In 2025, the population of Basel-City had increased by 3,014 people, for a total of 210,529 residents, Swiss canton’s statistics reveal.
This increase is primarily attributed to immigration – currently, 39.2 percent of the local population are foreign nationals.
About 70 percent of them are nationals of the European Union, mostly from Germany and Italy.
In this respect, Basel-City is second to only Geneva, by far the most international of Switzerland’s cantons, where over 40 percent of residents are foreign nationals.
Next are Vaud (34 percent), Zug (30.2 percent), Ticino (29 percent), and Zurich (26 percent).
But let’s get back to Basel
Many of the foreigners who settled here in 2025 work, as do their counterparts who arrived earlier, in the region’s foremost industry – that is, the pharmaceutical sector, as Basel-City is the headquarters of such pharma giants as Novartis and Roche.
Since many of these foreigners live in the surrounding areas, their numbers have also gone up in Basel-Country, which is adjacent to Basel-City.
In fact, official data shows that while the number of Swiss citizens who settled in Basel-Country increased by 0.2 percent, the number of foreign residents rose by 2.0 percent.
This means that the proportion of foreign nationals has risen in both Basels (as the City and Country are often referred to).
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Work, yes, but not only
In 2022, the Expat City Ranking chose Basel as ‘Switzerland’s best city for expats’.
At the time, 80 percent of survey participants from Basel expressed more satisfaction with their personal finances, versus 60 percent globally.
They also felt that their disposable household income “is enough to lead a comfortable life abroad,” the survey found .This means 68 percent have more than enough money, versus 45 percent globally.
However, that particular survey also revealed Basel’s downsides.
Not surprisingly perhaps, they fall under the category of ‘The Ease of Settling In’, in which Basel ranks in the 42nd place, making it the only real lowlight about life in the city and canton: “30 percent of expats describe the local residents as generally unfriendly, versus 17 percent globally,”the report found.
READ MORE: The five most important things to know about Basel
