Share of the resident population with dominant language

Switzerland has four national languages: the most widespread is German, followed by French, Italian and Rhaeto-Romansh. Each of the four is clearly dominant in its own area. In the Italian and Rhaeto-Romansh linguistic regions, German is the most common second language, in the French linguistic region, there are a much larger proportion of non-national languages.

The linguistic frontiers between the three main national languages seem to be firm. Rhaeto-Romansh is, however, in a critical state. It faces strong competition from German and is steadily losing ground both in relative (1980: 0.8%; 2014: 0.5%) and absolute terms. Virtually all Rhaeto-Romans are basically bilingual. In the Italian-speaking area, just short of half the population is bilingual, while only one quarter are bilingual in the French-speaking and German-speaking areas.

Apart from German in the Rhaeto-Romansh area, the use of the national languages outside their own areas is one the retreat. The reasons for this are complex. The case is clearest with Italian: here, the retreat is probably mainly due to assimilation (the first language of second-generation immigrants is usually the local language) and remigration.