| Geography and Climate |
Liechtenstein is a landlocked country, located in Central Europe, between Austria and Switzerland. Area comparatively about 0.9 times the size of Washington, DC. Total land boundary is 76 km, border countries are Austria 35 km, Switzerland 41 km.
Climate is continental; cold, cloudy winters with frequent snow or rain; cool to moderately warm, cloudy, humid summers. Terrain consists mostly of mountainous (Alps) with Rhine Valley in western third. Elevation extreme has the lowest point in Ruggeller Riet 430 m and highest point in Grauspitz 2,599 m. Natural resource is hydroelectric potential. Land use: arable land: 24%,
permanent crops: 0%, permanent pastures: 16%, forests and woodland: 35%, other: 25% (1993 est.).
Geography—note: along with Uzbekistan, one of the only two doubly landlocked countries in the world; variety of microclimatic variations based on elevation .
Ref. Anonymous, 1999 |