It is a multicultural region with citizens hailing from most parts of the world. German is the region's principle language, but French, Italian, Spanish and English are also spoken quite widely.

Economy:
Basel is one of Switzerland's main economic regions and provides employment for approximately 300,000 people. Figures from BAK Basel Economics show that the GDP per capita in the cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft increased by an estimated 2.3 per cent per annum between 1995 and 2001, reaching approximately $39,000 US.

Basel has thriving banking, insurance, financial and IT-related service industries and is a major industrial centre producing a variety of goods including chemicals, machinery, pharmaceuticals, printed materials and silk textiles. Life science related industries are of particular importance to the region and there are numerous medium sized firms and innovative start-ups in this field as well as several major international companies such as Novartis, Roche and Syngenta. According to the regional development agency, over 60 per cent of the products manufactured in the area are exported.

Local Infrastructure:
Basel benefits from an excellent position at the centre of the European transport network and is less than 5 kilometres from both France and Germany.

The city is located at the intersection of major highways that stretch from northern Germany towards Italy and Spain and from France towards Austria. Frankfurt and Milan can be reached by road in about 3 hours and Paris can be reached in approximately 5 hours. Basel also boasts 3 railway stations and is the meeting point for the German, French and the Swiss Federal railway networks.

Basel-Mulhouse-Freiburg Euroairport, which is situated just to the northwest of the city, is one of Europe's leading regional airports and offers regular daily connections to several major European destinations. The airport has received considerable investment in order to expand capacity and a new passenger terminal was opened in October 2002. There are also plans to complete a railway link to the airport by 2010. In addition, Zurich-Kloten intercontinental airport can be reached from Basel in about an hour by road.

The region also boasts one of Europe's most important inland harbours, comprised of the Rhine ports of Kleinhünigen, St. Johann, Birsfelden and Muttenz. Together the ports extend over and area of 1.3 million square metres and handle in the region of 9 million tons of goods per annum.

Local Workforce:
The Basel region has the advantage of a large and multilingual labour pool, with workers being drawn to the city from much of northwest Switzerland as well as the neighbouring areas of France and Germany. Furthermore, according to the regional development agency there are over 50,000 English speaking workers in the region.

The region has an excellent reputation for the quality of its education system and has several universities and numerous research institutes and colleges.

Figures from the Swiss Federal Statistics Office put the unemployment rate in the Basel region at approximately 2.8 per cent in 2002.

Standard of Living:
Basel is an important cultural centre and a beautiful city, with one of the best-preserved Old Town's in Europe. The city boasts numerous museums, galleries, theatres and gardens and is also well known for its music and jazz festivals. Not far from the city are several outstanding areas of natural beauty such as the Black Forest in southern Germany.

Business Costs:
Businesses in Switzerland are taxed by the federal government and at cantonal and municipal level. Federal taxes are uniformly proportional throughout Switzerland, whereas cantonal and municipal taxes vary across the country. According to the regional development agency, net load on company profits in the Basel region is approximately 26 per cent including federal tax.