Demographics of Switzerland

Census

Population

• One birth every 6 minutes
• One death every 8 minutes
• One net migrant every 11 minutes
• Net gain of one person every 8 minutes

Growth rate

• 1.46 children born/woman
• 1.33 children born/Swiss woman
• 1.86 children born/non-Swiss woman

Fertility

Age structure

Sex ratio

Life expectancy

1950–2015

Vital statistics

• 1816 – Year Without a Summer
• 1916-1918 – First World War

Total fertility rates by nationality and region

Cantons and cities

TFR

Appenzell Ausserrhoden Structure of the population Age group Male Female Total % Total 4 302 599 4 367 701 8 670 300 100 0–4 224 268 212 850 437 118 5.04 5–9 226 409 213 276 439 685 5.07 10–14 220 562 208 906 429 468 4.95 15–19 216 228 203 802 420 030 4.84 20–24 247 027 231 154 478 181 5.52 25–29 284 900 275 053 559 953 6.46 30–34 313 683 306 776 620 459 7.16 35–39 314 591 308 180 622 771 7.18 40–44 301 811 297 807 599 618 6.92 45–49 302 514 299 345 601 859 6.94 50–54 328 949 325 660 654 609 7.55 55–59 325 419 319 081 644 500 7.43 60–64 265 775 266 604 532 379 6.14 65–69 210 196 224 718 434 914 5.02 70–74 190 316 211 899 402 215 4.64 75–79 153 639 180 613 334 252 3.86 80–84 96 134 130 952 227 086 2.62 85–89 55 660 91 514 147 174 1.70 90–94 20 336 45 440 65 776 0.76 95–99 3 874 12 653 16 527 0.19 100+ 308 1 418 1 726 0.02 Age group Male Female Total Percent 0–14 671 239 635 032 1 306 271 15.07 15–64 2 900 897 2 833 462 5 734 359 66.14 65+ 730 463 899 207 1 629 670 18.80 Nationality Unlike many other OECD countries, the Swiss Federal Statistical Office does not collect any data on racial identity or ethnic identity. Data is collected on country of birth, but as the OECD write "In general, collecting migration-related information on the foreign-born population and their children is a crude method for capturing diversity." Encompassing the Central Alps, Switzerland sits at the crossroads of several major European cultures. Its population includes a two-thirds majority of Alemannic German speakers and a one-quarter Latin minority, see linguistic geography of Switzerland. 10% of the population natively speak an immigrant language. Switzerland consistently ranks high on quality of life indices, including per capita income, concentration of computer and internet usage per capita, insurance coverage per individual, and health care rates. For these and many other reasons, such as the four languages, it serves as an excellent test market for businesses hoping to introduce new products into Europe. Permanent residents by nationality The number of registered resident foreigners was 1,001,887 in 1970. This amount decreased to 904,337 in 1979, and has increased steadily since that time, passing the 20% mark during 2001 and rising to 1,524,663 in 2004. The number of Swiss citizens thus numbered about 5.9 million in that year. In 2013 there were a total of 1,937,447 permanent residents in Switzerland. Of these, 1.65 million resident foreigners, had European citizenship. From other continents; 122,941 residents were from Asia; 83,873 from Africa; 78,433 from the Americas; and 4,145 from Oceania. 3.6% of the total population in Switzerland is non-European. The following chart shows permanent resident numbers from selected regions and countries every 5 years. Nation 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 Total 913,497 960,674 1,127,109 1,363,590 1,424,370 1,541,912 1,766,277 2,048,667 2,210,788 Europe 859,054 892,748 1,036,760 1,238,937 1,261,975 1,334,590 1,504,943 1,733,255 1,831,923 Africa 10,539 13,130 20,291 28,800 37,618 48,081 71,527 93,814 113,647 Americas 20,838 23,438 29,149 38,585 49,687 61,732 74,511 78,773 83,591 North America 12,182 12,394 13,775 16,140 18,952 21,004 25,590 26,271 26,249 Latin America and Caribbean 8,656 11,044 15,374 22,445 30,735 40,728 48,921 52,502 57,342 Asia 21,569 29,772 38,921 54,914 72,002 94,009 110,549 136,789 174,976 Oceania 1,260 1,326 1,728 1,999 2,829 3,242 3,990 4,230 4,187 - - - - - - - - - Germany 87,389 82,143 84,485 91,976 109,785 158,651 263,271 300,691 309,459 Spain 98,098 109,232 116,987 102,320 84,266 72,167 64,126 82,334 86,220 France 48,002 48,948 51,729 55,407 61,688 70,901 95,643 122,970 145,461 Italy 423,008 394,812 381,493 361,892 321,795 297,917 287,130 311,742 325,348 Austria 31,986 29,417 29,123 28,454 29,191 33,069 37,013 41,145 44,252 Portugal 10,863 31,029 86,035 135,646 135,449 167,857 212,586 267,474 257,691 United Kingdom 16,050 17,482 18,269 20,030 22,309 26,425 37,273 41,766 42,749 Croatia – – – 42,582 43,876 40,709 33,507 29,355 27,928 Serbia and Montenegro – – – – 190,940 196,833 – – – Serbia – – – – – – 121,908 71,260 61,933 Montenegro – – – – – – 2,022 2,536 2,523 Kosovo – – – – – – 58,755 106,879 113,660 Bosnia and Herzegovina – – – 24,748 45,111 43,354 35,513 31,905 28,756 North Macedonia – – – 39,540 56,092 60,898 60,116 64,448 67,745 Albania 15 17 29 576 1,093 1,218 1,308 1,590 2,644 Sri Lanka 373 808 2,840 9,841 20,215 31,865 28,963 27,667 28,728 Iraq 352 378 454 771 2,046 3,257 7,553 7,092 8,769 Turkey 38,353 51,206 64,899 79,372 80,165 75,903 71,835 69,215 68,049 Naturalization In 2004, 35,700 people acquired Swiss citizenship according to Swiss nationality law, a figure slightly larger than that of the previous year, and four times larger than the 1990 figure. About a third of those naturalized are from a successor state of former Yugoslavia: 7,900 Serbia-Montenegro, 2,400 Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2,000 North Macedonia, 1,600 Croatia. 4,200 were from Italy, 3,600 from Turkey, 1,600 from Sri Lanka, 1,200 from Portugal, and 1,200 from France. The yearly rate of naturalization has quintupled over the 1990s and 2000s, from roughly 9,000 to 45,000. Relative to the population of resident foreigners, this amounts to an increase from 8% in 1990 to 27% in 2007, or relative to the number of Swiss citizens from 1.6% in 1990 to 7.3% in 2007. The following table shows the historical development of naturalization from selected countries. Origin 1981 1985 1990 1995 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Total 14,299 14,393 8,658 16,790 28,700 27,583 36,515 35,424 35,685 38,437 46,711 43,889 44,365 43,440 39,314 36,012 33,500 34,061 Europe 12,978 12,349 6,970 12,592 21,975 20,969 28,102 27,558 27,728 30,109 36,087 33,771 34,879 33,795 30,458 27,769 25,778 26,457 Africa 283 341 273 919 1,824 1,900 2,163 1,954 1,848 2,064 2,619 2,883 2,599 2,627 2,499 2,337 2,417 2,363 North America 171 277 139 230 321 316 376 367 333 336 407 451 371 427 428 410 443 499 South America and Caribbean 245 442 461 777 1,554 1,528 1,790 1,749 1,626 1,478 1,859 1,921 1,675 1,802 1,587 1,613 1,407 1,609 Asia 590 928 796 2,226 2,981 2,830 4,033 3,717 4,065 4,382 5,666 4,787 4,771 4,710 4,261 3,788 3,349 3,038 Oceania 30 52 12 24 29 27 35 67 73 59 62 61 56 55 58 62 64 66 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Italy 4,665 3,259 1,995 4,376 6,652 5,386 6,633 5,085 4,196 4,032 4,502 4,629 4,921 4,804 4,111 4,033 3,998 4,379 Germany 2,650 2,839 1,144 703 646 585 817 670 639 773 1,144 1,361 3,022 4,035 3,617 3,516 3,357 3,804 Kosovo 1,611 2,518 2,556 2,640 Serbia 6,859 4,261 3,362 2,529 Portugal 86 127 170 175 765 779 920 1,165 1,199 1,505 2,383 2,201 1,761 2,336 2,217 2,211 2,071 2,184 Turkey 150 189 211 1,205 3,127 3,116 4,128 4,216 3,565 3,467 3,457 3,044 2,866 2,593 2,091 1,852 1,638 1,622 France 1,262 1,228 684 871 1,360 1,306 1,367 1,215 1,181 1,021 1,260 1,218 1,110 1,314 1,084 1,272 1,197 1,558 North Macedonia 76 857 1,022 1,639 1,802 1,981 2,171 2,596 2,210 2,287 1,831 1,586 1,322 1,212 1,270 Bosnia and Herzegovina 112 999 1,128 1,865 2,268 2,371 2,790 3,149 3,016 2,855 2,408 1,924 1,610 1,145 1,156 Croatia 577 970 1,045 1,638 1,565 1,616 1,681 1,837 1,660 2,046 1,599 1,483 1,268 1,195 1,118 Spain 567 643 401 431 851 699 691 800 823 975 1,283 1,246 1,096 1,245 1,120 1,044 1,033 1,047 Sri Lanka 7 104 30 42 375 446 1,124 1,139 1,565 1,996 2,941 2,206 2,348 2,158 1,783 1,467 1,170 890 Iraq 2 8 3 15 40 42 33 54 67 80 139 142 163 190 240 266 399 355 Immigration Foreign population by country of citizenship as of September 30, 2024: Rank Nationality Population 1 Migration data of Switzerland Year Immigration Emigration Net Migration 1980 75,262 63,697 11,565 1981 92,937 69,947 22,990 1982 86,725 66,484 20,241 1983 69,145 65,699 3,446 1984 69,998 59,674 10,324 1985 72,356 58,851 13,505 1986 79,686 57,595 22,091 1987 83,927 57,789 26,138 1988 95,973 61,447 34,526 1989 99,352 66,314 33,038 1990 122,779 65,713 57,066 1991 133,100 73,443 59,657 1992 131,891 86,362 45,529 1993 122,456 77,537 44,919 1994 107,650 69,666 37,984 1995 90,957 69,357 21,600 1996 74,359 71,949 2,410 1997 69,604 67,880 1,724 1998 72,202 64,017 8,185 1999 83,677 62,780 20,897 2000 84,200 59,302 24,898 2001 99,746 56,477 43,269 2002 105,014 53,517 51,497 2003 98,812 51,046 47,766 2004 100,834 52,950 47,884 2005 99,091 54,435 44,656 2006 107,177 57,739 49,438 2007 143,855 60,688 83,167 2008 161,629 58,266 103,363 2009 138,269 59,236 79,033 2010 139,495 70,528 68,967 2011 140,508 66,738 73,770 2012 151,002 73,855 77,147 2013 167,248 77,707 89,541 2014 161,149 82,607 78,542 2015 162,563 86,528 76,035 2016 167,407 90,088 77,319 2017 147,142 93,157 53,985 2018 146,183 98,431 47,752 2019 145,608 94,859 50,749 2020 137,685 83,602 54,083 2021 143,506 88,053 55,453 2022 169,055 90,861 78,194 2023 241,040 93,289 147,751 2024 190,043 99,680 90,363 Year Total Immigration Total Emigration Total Net Migration Swiss Immigration Swiss Emigration Swiss Net Migration Foreigners Immigration Foreigners Emigration Foreigners Net Migration 2021 165,600 116,800 48,800 22,100 28,700 −6,600 143,500 88,100 55,500 2022 190,900 122,100 68,800 21,800 31,300 −9,400 169,100 90,900 78,200 2023 263,100 124,000 139,100 22,000 30,700 −8,600 241,700 90,300 147,800 2024 212,700 125,600 87,100 22,600 30,100 −7,500 190,100 95,500 94,600 Emigration In 2004, 623,100 Swiss citizens lived abroad, the largest group in France, followed by the United States and Germany. Employment and income ;Unemployment, youth ages 15–24: Average hourly income 23.14 CHF Religion Switzerland as a federal state has no state religion, though most of the cantons recognize official churches, in all cases including the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Church of Switzerland. These churches, and in some cantons also the Old Catholic Church and Jewish congregations, are financed by official taxation of adherents. A 2005 Eurobarometer poll found 48% of Swiss citizens to be theist, 39% expressing belief in "some sort of spirit or life force", 9% atheist and 4% said that they don't know. Adherence to Christian churches has declined considerably since the late 20th century, from close to 94% in 1980 to about 67% in 2016. In 2000, 5.78 million residents were Christian. 809,800 were without any religious affiliation. An additional 3.6% were "religious affiliation unknown". 310,800 were Muslim, 17,900 were Jewish. Other "churches and religious communities" were at 0.7%. Between 2010 and 2022, the proportion of Roman Catholics and Reformed Protestants fell slightly, in contrast to that of Muslims and other Islamic communities. The proportion of Jewish communities has hardly changed whereas that of persons without religious affiliation has risen by 13 percentage points. In 2016, of 15 to 24 year olds 65.4% were Christian, 23.0% unaffiliated, 0.3% Jewish, 8.3% Muslim, 1.7% other religions. Those aged 25 to 44 were 58.4% Christian, 31.0% unaffiliated, 0.2% Jewish, 7.5% Muslim, 1.7% other religions. Older adults were 67.0% Christian, 25.9% unaffiliated, 0.2% Jewish, 4.2% Muslim, 1.5% other religions. Senior citizens were 81.3% Christian, 14.9% unaffiliated, 0.3% Jewish, 1.1% Muslim, 0.5% other religions. Furthermore, notable is the significant difference in church adherence between Swiss citizens and foreign nationals in 2016. The Federal Statistical Office reported the religious demographics as of 2023 as follows : 56% Christian, 35.6% unaffiliated, 6% Muslim, 0.2% Jewish, 1.3% other religions. . Languages The four national languages of Switzerland are German, French, Italian and Romansh. In 2017, permanent residents who spoke German as their main language or co-main language numbered about 63%, followed by 22.9% for French, 8.2% for Italian and less than 0.5% for Romansh. The non-official language with the largest group of main or co-main language speakers is English with 448,000 speakers, followed by Portuguese with 303,000, Albanian with 262,000, followed by Serbo-Croatian with 205,000 speakers and Spanish with 197,000. All other languages totaled 640,000. Education Almost all Swiss are literate. Switzerland's 13 institutes of higher learning enrolled 99,600 students in the academic year of 2001–02. About 25% of the adult population hold a diploma of higher learning. According to the CIA World Factbook data for 2003, 99% of the Swiss population aged 15 and over could read and write, with the rate being identical for both sexes. During the 2008/09 school year there were 1,502,257 students in the entire Swiss educational system. In kindergarten or pre-school, there were 152,919 students. These students were taught by 13,592 teachers in 4,949 schools, of which 301 were private schools. There were 777,394 students in the obligatory schools, which include primary and lower secondary schools. These students were taught by 74,501 teachers in 6,083 schools, of which 614 were private. The upper secondary school system had 337,145 students. They were taught by 13,900 teachers in 730 schools, of which 240 were private. The tertiary education system had 234,799 students. They were taught by 37,546 teachers in 367 schools. Crime The police registered a total of 553,421 criminal offences in 2009, including 51 killings and 185 attempted murders. There were 616 cases of rape. In the same year, 94,574 adults were convicted under criminal law. 57.3% of convictions were for traffic offences. In the same year, 15,064 minors were convicted. The number of convicted persons is given in the following tables. Each class of crime references the relevant section of the Strafgesetzbuch, or Betäubungsmittelgesetz, or the Strassenverkehrsgesetz. Year Total Convicted Adults Homicide Serious Bodily Injury Minor Bodily Injury Sexual Contact with Children Rape Theft Robbery Receiving Stolen Goods Embezzlement Fraud Narcotics Possession Major Violation of Traffic Laws Impaired Driving 2005 26,199 105 95 2,439 416 110 5,967 497 1,249 906 1,469 5,510 22,015 16,466 2006 26,583 116 105 2,537 388 135 5,933 565 1,186 876 1,516 5,403 21,535 21,058 2007 24,265 105 94 2,262 386 139 5,502 524 930 805 1,597 5,090 21,294 20,108 2008 26,327 107 134 2,632 412 135 5,756 525 909 854 1,660 5,387 25,265 20,600 2009 27,727 103 129 2,655 388 129 6,449 533 941 859 1,566 5,533 25,557 19,711 2010 28,691 94 149 2,677 334 128 6,659 593 905 784 1,750 6,125 25,983 20,591 2011 29,128 82 127 2,721 274 86 6,950 442 1,007 716 1,767 4,710 23,590 18,882 2012 33,925 116 179 2,845 293 108 8,936 511 1,332 745 1,971 5,734 22,906 18,396 2013 35,325 114 178 2,843 317 98 9,491 654 1,433 670 2,307 6,070 22,277 17,465 2014 32,911 99 197 2,617 288 77 8,335 520 1,112 646 2,153 6,164 24,263 17,041 Year Total Convicted Minors Homicide Serious Bodily Injury Minor Bodily Injury Sexual Contact with Children Rape Theft Robbery Receiving Stolen Goods Embezzlement Fraud Narcotics Possession Major Violation of Traffic Laws Impaired Driving 2005 7,580 7 10 634 73 14 3,528 375 400 34 65 918 124 180 2006 7,769 7 22 644 118 19 3,418 330 390 35 51 1,019 126 189 2007 6,910 6 21 699 101 19 2,189 285 285 21 47 680 116 141 2008 6,975 4 24 688 80 17 1,998 334 272 17 57 560 101 125 2009 6,931 6 24 665 73 5 2,033 365 311 19 57 600 142 105 2010 7,613 13 36 770 71 17 2,410 413 242 19 51 565 119 141 2011 5,427 2 31 553 65 5 1,585 256 153 10 49 507 138 152 2012 5,070 2 34 476 71 8 1,620 303 164 25 56 554 74 124 2013 5,199 3 32 407 75 21 1,666 325 166 27 90 690 72 95 2014 4,849 1 33 380 63 8 1,375 231 159 24 70 817 86 124