Acceptance of foreign population increases
The majority of Swiss residents believe the 22 per cent proportion of foreign nationals living in the country is "not too high", a survey has found.
Almost 54 per cent of those who took part in the telephone poll did not find the foreign population too high compared to only 44 per cent in a similar 1998 survey. At that time the proportion of foreigners was 19 per cent.
The aim of the survey, commissioned by the Environment and Population Association (Ecopop) was to assess Swiss opinion on population growth. Ecopop believes that living standards can only be maintained by stabilising worldwide population growth.
Reservations about the size of the foreign population were much stronger in German-speaking Switzerland, according to the survey.
However, those questioned were more bothered by traffic problems and building activity than high population density.
The poll was carried out by the opinion research institute Isopublic between the end of October and beginning of November. Some 1,100 people took part with a margin of error of three per cent.
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