Geneva 2007

Geneva (French: Genève, German: Genf About this sound Genf (help·info), Italian: Ginevra, Romansh: Genevra) is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and is the most populous city of Romandie (the French-speaking part of Switzerland). Situated where the Rhône River exits Lake Geneva (in French also known as Lac Léman), it is the capital of the Republic and Canton of Geneva.

The city proper had a population of 186,825 in June 2008,[1] and the metropolitan area had 1 240 000 residents, according to a 2007 census.[2] The Greater Geneva Bern area has 2 800 000 residents.[3]

Geneva is a worldwide centre for diplomacy and international co-operation, and is widely regarded as a global city, mainly because of the presence of numerous international organizations, including the headquarters of many of the agencies of the United Nations[4] and the Red Cross.[5] It is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, which chiefly concern the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war.

Geneva has been described as the world's seventh most important financial centre by the Global Financial Centres Index, ahead of Chicago, Frankfurt and Sydney,[6] and a 2009 survey by Mercer found Geneva to have the third-highest quality of life in the world (narrowly outranked by Zürich).[7] The city has been referred to as the world's most compact metropolis and the "Peace Capital".[8]