The permanent resident population of Switzerland has finally eclipsed 9 million people, a statement from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) has confirmed. The country was propelled to the momentous milestone mainly because of high levels of migration.

Swiss population rises above 9 million for the first time

According to the FSO, at the end of June 2024, the resident population of Switzerland stood at 9.002.763 people. While the large number of temporary residents (students at Swiss universities with study visas, for example) already propelled the country past the 9 million mark in September 2023, the alpine nation’s permanent population has now also eclipsed the number.

The announcement has topped off over 170 years of population growth. When the first census was conducted across Swiss cantons in 1850, the population of Switzerland was just 2,4 million people. This rose to 3 million in 1891, 4 million in 1926 and 5 million in 1955.

The population started to rise rapidly from the 1950s onwards, growing to 6 million in 1967, 7 million in 1994 and finally 8 million in 2012. The FSO noted that it only took 12 years to get from 8 to 9 million, the same time as from 5 to 6 million (1955-1967).

Swiss population growth attributed to immigration

However, unlike the time of baby boomers, while plenty of people have been born in Switzerland since 2012 most of the growth can be attributed to immigration. In the latest data for 2023, the FSO found that migration now accounts for 95 percent of population growth.

To accommodate the new arrivals, the amount of space devoted to housing in Switzerland has risen by 180 square kilometres between 2013 and 2023, while farmland the size of Canton Uri (1.100 square kilometres) has been lost to residential, industrial and commercial developments - although the total size of wooded areas has grown slightly. 

The change has also been reflected in the number of jobs available in Switzerland, with the number of positions rising by 52 percent between 2008 and 2023. This has added to prosperity, with reports from 2023 indicating that Swiss GDP has increased by more than 20 percent since 2002, more than Austria and France but less than Germany and the US. Crime rates have also fallen by 25 percent between 2012 and 2023.

Population growth in Switzerland worries SVP

Nevertheless, the rapid growth in the population has led to a number of challenges, especially on the Swiss housing market. With the number of available homes recently falling to an all-time low, Switzerland has failed to keep pace with migration by building new homes to rent and buy, leading to soaring costs.

This has led some in Switzerland to call for policies based around curtailing population growth, most notably via the Swiss People’s Party’s No 10 million Switzerland! Initiative. The proposal would require the government to take radical measures to curb immigration if the population rises above 9,5 million people before 2050, such as barring entry to new migrants - although how this would be achieved, given the free movement of people policy between Switzerland and the EU, remains to be seen.

On the other side of the political divide, many have argued that reducing the number of migrants would put significant pressure on the Swiss economy, which is expected to be short of 800.000 workers by 2030 despite high rates of migration. With a quarter of people in Switzerland expected to be retired by 2030, there are concerns that limiting the number of new migrants could also affect the financial health of pensions and other Swiss social security programmes.

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