Land Use
| Land use |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Main areas | Surface (in %) |
Land use | Surface (in ha) |
| Surfaces of housing and infrastructure |
|
Building areas | 137,564 |
| Industrial areas | 20,233 | ||
| Special infrastructure areas | 16,111 | ||
| Green spaces and recreation areas | 15,860 | ||
| Transportation areas | 89,329 | ||
| Agricultural land |
|
Orchards, vineyards, horticulture | 60,956 |
| Arable land, local pastures | 926,378 | ||
| Alpine pastures | 537,802 | ||
| Forests |
|
Forest | 1,102,160 |
| Scrub forests | 60,514 | ||
| Other woodlands | 108,978 | ||
| Unproductive areas |
|
Lakes | 142,234 |
| Rivers | 31,724 | ||
| Unproductive vegetation | 263,051 | ||
| Unvegetated surfaces | 615,597 | ||
The Swiss territory is divided into four major types of land use. As of 2001, 36.9% of the land in Switzerland was used for farming. 30.8% of the country is covered with forests and woodlands, with an additional 6.8% covered with houses or buildings. About one-fourth (25.5%) of the country is either mountains, lakes or rivers and is categorised as unproductive.
Read more about this topic: Geography Of Switzerland
Famous quotes containing the word land:
“What between the duties expected of one during one’s lifetime, and the duties exacted from one after one’s death, land has ceased to be either a profit or a pleasure. It gives one position, and prevents one from keeping it up. That’s all that can be said about land.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“Whilst all the land was ringed with bristling arms
And flames laid waste our world,
All that was left me was a little garden
And thou within it, my beloved, my comrade.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)