Fewer people immigrated to Switzerland in 2025; US students are flooding Swiss universities; and more mews in our roundup this Monday.
Fewer people immigrated to Switzerland in 2025
Last year, 165,386 people immigrated to Switzerland – a decrease of 5,221 people (-3.1 percent) compared to 2024.
This is what emerges from new data published by the Federal Statistical Office.
Concretely, immigration from third countries declined by 5,640 people (-11.3 percent) to 44,421 people.
Immigration from the EU/EFTA states, on the other hand, which accounts for 73.1 percent of the total, went up slightly (+0.3 percent), reaching 120,965 people.
US students are flooding Swiss universities
Prestigious Swiss universities are currently experiencing a surge in applications from the United States.
At ETH Zurich alone, 680 Americans applied for a master’s program. This represents an increase of 46 percent. The number of people who actually enrolled in a master’s program also rose sharply, from 53 to 123 last fall.
At EPFL in Lausanne, the number of US applicants for master’s programs increased by as much as 60 percent. There was also a 31-percent increase in doctoral positions.
The Geneva Graduate Institute too is experiencing the highest jump in US applications – an 80-percent increase.
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SWISS could soon introduce low-cost fares to certain destinations
Faced with competition from low-cost carriers like Easyjet, which flies into and out of all Swiss airports, Switzerland’s national carrier is considering cutting some of its ticket prices on European routes.
Right now, SWISS’ Economy Light fare – which includes a carry-on bag, a bottle of water, and frequent flyer miles – is the cheapest.
But in order to offer an alternative to Easyjet, SWISS could introduce a kind of ‘Economy Ultralight’ fare – basically, just the service to get passengers from point A to point B without any frills: no carry-on baggage, no drinks, and no frequent flyer miles.
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A ‘migratory’ wolf swam across Lake Lucerne on his journey across Switzerland
The wolf in question, which was fitted with a GPS tracker, had left the Jura mountains in Vaud.
It made its way through the Emmental region, and then swam 1.5 km across Lake Lucerne last week, according to the state-funded Carnivore Ecology and Wildlife Management (KORA), which is tracking the animal’s movements.
This is the first time a case of a wolf swimming in a lake has been documented in Switzerland.
So far ,he had covered 240 km in 11 days,
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