The English-speaking population of Switzerland has continued to boom in recent years, the latest data from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) has revealed. Alongside a growing population of mother-tongue speakers, English has cemented itself as a crucial language in the workplace.

English the fourth-most common first language in Switzerland

In their latest report, the FSO found that English is the fourth-most common mother tongue language in Switzerland, with 562.815 residents reporting it as their first language as of the end of 2023 - for reference, the community is now larger than Geneva, Basel and Lausanne combined. Swiss and High German sported the most mother-tongue speakers at 5,3 million, followed by French (1,98 million) and Italian (676.115).

English mother tongue speakers have gone from making up 4 percent of the population in 2010 to 6 percent in 2023. In evidence suggesting that most come to fill jobs in Switzerland, the FSO added that half of the group are the first in their family to hold a Swiss residence permit, while 60 percent have qualified from university.

More broadly, the report noted that 24,4 percent of permanent residents in Switzerland do not speak German, French, Italian or Romansh as a first language. Following English, Albanian, Portuguese, Spanish, Serbian and Croatian are the most common non-Swiss languages.

English increasingly common in the Swiss workplace

However, unlike other non-national languages, English’s rise in significance has also been reported among workers in Switzerland. According to the FSO, 23,3 percent of staff (1,06 million employees) say they use English during their working hours, making it the fourth-most significant language in the workplace, ahead of Italian.

However, you will still likely have to learn German or French to get by in the office, with English still far behind the likes of Swiss German (2,77 million workers), High German (1,598 million) and French (1,26 million). For more information, and to explore the data yourself, check out the FSO website.

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