Share of the resident population with dominant religious denomination

Confessional balance in Switzerland has changed radically over the past 40-odd years: Evangelical reformeds – who were still in the clear majority in 1950 (56%) – have become a minority (2017: 23.9%). Since 1970, Catholics have formed the biggest religious community (2017: 35.9%); this is mainly the result of immigration in the second half of the 20th century. The proportion of the increasing variety of other religions is also on the rise (1980: 3.2%; 2017: 7.5%). The number of Muslims, in particular, has grown sharply: In 2017 a total of 380,000 people profess Islam, against 152,200 in 1990.

Religious affiliation is much more than in the past a question of personal choice. This is shown by the number of people who free themselves from their 'inherited' religion and declare that they do not belong to any religious confession (1970: 1.1%; 2017: 26%).

The historically based confessional character of the Cantons continues to exist, despite internal migration and immigration from abroad. In Central Switzerland and in the Cantons of Freiburg, Valais, Ticino, Appenzell Innerrhoden and Jura, well over three quarters of the population are Catholic; the only strongly evangelical reformed Canton is Berne (50.2%). Traces of this regional confessional pattern are found in various spheres of life, e.g. in party-political structures or in demography (e.g. number of children per woman, divorces).