For the first time, long-term government data reveals how many people settle in Switzerland, and how many eventually leave the country.
The figures, published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), are culled from its Demographic Trend Statistics database.
The data covers a 12-year period between 2011 and 2023, so it is quite comprehensive in its scope.
What do the numbers show?
The data indicates that approximately 2.4 million people immigrated to Switzerland between 2011 and 2023, including (mostly) people from the European Union, but also asylum seekers and refugees from Ukraine.
The figures also reveal how many of them were still in the country at the end of 2023: 1.4 million.
Of those who remained, 87 percent are EU nationals, while asylum seeks account for the remaining 13 percent.
This means that 1 million people have left Switzerland (that is, emigrated) in the 12-year period studied by the FSO, while the majority are still here.
Who are those who left the country?
While for some of them emigration was a conscious decision (read more about this below), for others, it was not a matter of choice.
This latter group includes asylum seekers whose applications was rejected, so they were forced to leave Switzerland.
But the majority are people who left Switzerland voluntarily.
Over the past decade, an average of around 30,000 have emigrated each year, statistics show.
While most of them are foreign nationals, some Swiss are also included in that number.
Among the Swiss, a sizeable proportion are dual nationals, presumably returning to their home countries, though this data is not available because bi-nationals are, for legal and statistical purposes, Swiss citizens.
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Why do people leave Switzerland?
The FSO doesn’t provide reasons for emigration, but anecdotal evidence does.
Much depends on why foreign nationals came to Switzerland in the first place.
If, for instance, a temporary work visa issued to a citizen of a third-country ended, they will have to leave the country if their status is not renewed.
But then there are those who choose to emigrate for personal reasons.
One category that stands out are those over 65, whose number has exploded, going from 141 in 2013 to 787 in 2023.
Many, especially people from Portugal, Italy, and Spain, have built a house or bought an apartment in their home countries with their Swiss savings, and retire there.
But foreigners are not the only emigrants.
A number of Swiss pensioners also choose to go somewhere where their retirement funds go further than in Switzerland — mainly to neighbours France and Italy.
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Yes, but…
Other FSO data indicates that the younger a (Swiss) person is when he or she leaves Switzerland, the more chance there is that they will return.
Of all the Swiss nationals born in Switzerland, more than half return within seven years of living abroad.
Which may, perhaps, go to prove that there really is no place like home
These articles will provide further information about Switzerland’s foreign population:
