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E.g., 04/16/2024
Country Resource - Switzerland
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Switzerland

CH
  • Population..............................................................................8,563,760 (2023 est.)
  • Population growth rate ..................................................................0.64% (2023 est.)
  • Birth rate....................................................10.3 births/1,000 population (2023 est.)
  • Death rate...................................................8.37 deaths/1,000 population (2023 est.)
  • Net migration rate..................................4.5 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2023 est.)
  • Ethnic groups*........................Swiss 69.2%, German 4.2%, Italian 3.2%, Portuguese 2.5%, French 2.1%, Kosovan 1.1%, Turkish 1%, other 16.7% (2020 est.)

* Data represent permanent and non-permanent resident population by country of birth

CIA World Factbook

Profile
February 1, 2005

Switzerland Faces Common European Challenges

Denise Efionayi, Josef Martin Niederberger and Philippe Wanner of the Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies explain how Switzerland, with one of the highest percentages of foreigners in Europe, is responding to a variety of migration challenges.

Recent Activity

A celebration for the Feast of San Gennaro in New York's Little Italy
Spotlight
January 11, 2024
European Immigrants in the United States

One-tenth of all immigrants in the United States come from Europe, a vast decline from the mid-20th century, as migration within Europe has grown and more U.S. immigrants arrive from other destinations. This article provides an overview of contemporary European immigration to the United States, as a region and by top European countries of origin.

Luxury cars in front of a hotel on Dubai's Palm Jumeirah.
Feature
November 10, 2022
Millionaire Migration Rises and Heads to New Destinations

Migrant millionaires are once again on the move, though headed to new destinations amid fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. While wealthy new arrivals can help provide a healthy tax base and invest in local economies, they can upset housing markets and exacerbate wealth disparities, as this article describes.

Flags of the European Union fly outside of the European Parliament in Brussels.
Feature
June 3, 2021
Borderless Europe: Seven Decades of Free Movement

Between Brexit and COVID-19, Europe’s 31-country zone of free movement has been profoundly tested. Still, the area has constantly evolved over the last 70 years, to include new groups of individuals who can freely move for work, study, or leisure, as well as cover larger geographic areas. This article examines the history and challenges to free movement, a crowning success of the European project.

AfricanSwitzerland Thomas8047 Flickr
Feature
March 16, 2017
Straddling Two Worlds: Highly Skilled Migrants from Senegambia and Switzerland

In recent years, Switzerland has become a popular destination for highly skilled migrants, including from the Senegambia region of West Africa. Meanwhile, migration also flows the opposite way with Swiss migrants heading to Senegal and The Gambia. This article compares and contrasts the experiences of these migrants at destination as well as their motivations to migrate and attitudes toward remittances and citizenship.

FacesofAsylum GordonWeltersUNHCR
Feature
April 15, 2015
EU Dublin Asylum System Faces Uncertain Future after Ruling in Afghan Family’s Case
The European Court of Human Right's ruling on the transfer of a family of Afghan asylum seekers from Switzerland to Italy has struck a potentially fatal blow to the European Union's Dublin asylum system. Against a backdrop of pressures on EU Member States in the humanitarian protection realm, this article assesses the impact of the ruling and reevaluates the viability of the Dublin Regulation as a key tool in the Common European Asylum System.
Feature
December 1, 2009
Swiss Vote to Ban Minarets, Sparking International Criticism

Swiss voters strongly approved a popular initiative to ban the construction of minarets in Switzerland. Julie Schindall reports on reaction to the vote and explains how the Swiss system makes such lawmaking possible.

Feature
June 9, 2009
Switzerland's Non-EU Immigrants: Their Integration and Swiss Attitudes

Nearly 40 percent of Switzerland's 1.6 million foreign residents come from countries outside the European Union. Julie Schindall examines the latest data on this population, integration indicators and policies, and political rhetoric and public opinion.

Top Ten
December 1, 2005
Challenges of Immigrant Integration: Muslims in Europe

Only recently have European politicians and public opinion leaders talked about the need to focus on the integration of immigrants and their children.

Profile
February 1, 2005
Switzerland Faces Common European Challenges

Denise Efionayi, Josef Martin Niederberger and Philippe Wanner of the Swiss Forum for Migration and Population Studies explain how Switzerland, with one of the highest percentages of foreigners in Europe, is responding to a variety of migration challenges.

Feature
October 1, 2003
Swiss Court Halts Local Plebiscites on Naturalization

Veysel Oezcan of Humboldt University Berlin reports on a Swiss ruling that bars communities from holding plebiscites to approve or reject naturalization applications.
cover image for Destination-Country Policies to Foster Diaspora Engagement in Development
Reports
April 2022

Destination-Country Policies to Foster Diaspora Engagement in Development

Emigrants and their descendants can play a critical role in the development of their countries of origin or ancestry. In fact, many such countries have policies that seek to leverage their diaspora’s contributions. Much less attention has been paid to how destination countries with large international development programs are engaging their resident diasporas—or could be engaging them—in the development of countries of origin.

coverthumb MPIE ChasingEfficiency EuropeAsylum
Reports
March 2020

Chasing Efficiency: Can Operational Changes Fix European Asylum Systems?

Brussels is searching for bright ideas on how to fix the Common European Asylum System. While recent EU-level legal reforms have stalled, this report examines the many innovative, operations-focused approaches Member States have used since the 2015-16 migration crisis to improve registration and reception systems, asylum case processing, and options for returning failed asylum seekers.