Immigration since 1990

Switzerland has one of the highest percentages of foreigners in its population. More than 80% of the foreign population living in Switzerland is from another European country. Immigration from Germany, Italy and, to a lesser extent, France has a long history.

At the end of the 19th century, railway network expansion led to the first wave of migrants to modern-day Switzerland. At the time, immigration had been almost exclusively from neighbouring countries like Italy, France, Germany, and Austria.

The post-war economic boom also resulted in an upsurge in jobs. Between 1951 and 1970 Switzerland experienced a significant influx of migrants. Italy and Spain were the main suppliers of workers up until the end of the 1970s. It stagnated in the 1970s and 1980s, accelerating again in the past 30 years.

More recently, Switzerland’s healthy economy and introduction of the free movement of people accord attracted tens of thousands of workers, mainly from European Union countries. But the number of Asian, American and African immigrants has also risen markedly since 1995.

From an international perspective, however, the number of immigrants to Switzerland is nearly negligible. In 2019, the number of International migrants worldwide has reached nearly 272 million. Europe hosted the largest number of international migrants (82 million), followed by Northern America (59 Million). The number of international migrants grows faster than the world’s population.

Most of the world’s migrants live in a relatively small number of countries, in 2019 two third of all international migrants were living in just 20 countries. The largest number (51 million) resided in the USA. Germany and Saudi Arabia hosted the second and third largest number (around 13 million each), followed by the Russian federation (12 million) and the UK (10 million). In comparison Switzerland hosted around 140’000 international migrants in 2019.
Women comprise slightly less than half of all international migrants. The share of migrant women was highest in Northern America and Europe (around 51% each) and lowest in Western Asia (35.5 %).

The profile of immigrants has also changed over time. While in the past migrants were largely unqualified manual workers, today more EU nationals in Switzerland have completed higher education than Swiss.