In 2021, 32% of Swiss had no religious affiliation, just behind the 33% of respondents who said they were Roman Catholic, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) said on TuesdayExternal link. Protestants make up 21% of the country.
The proportion of people without a religion in Switzerland has risen steadily since the 1970s. In 2000, about 11% of the Swiss population said they had no religion. In a European comparison, however, the figure of one third is not particularly high, the FSO said. In France, for example, over half the country don’t belong to a religion.
People without religious affiliation in Switzerland tend to be young, educated and live in the city, according to the FSO. They also tend to live more in the French-speaking part of the country. In cantons Basel City and Neuchâtel more than half said they had no religion.
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Catholic Church in Switzerland still dealing with abuse claims
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Some 250 cases of sexual harassment, many concerning adults, have been logged since 2010, according to media reports.
Some of these people had left their religious community, while others had never belonged to a religion at all, according to the FSO. However, people with no particular faith also practised spiritual or religious practices. Almost a third of this group even stated that they were rather or certainly spiritual or religious.
According to the FSO, practices aimed at self-awareness and personality development are particularly popular among people without religion.
At least 200,000 people over the age of 15 living in Switzerland were surveyed for the study.
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Almost two-thirds of Swiss Christians who took part in a survey do not believe that the Resurrection of Jesus is a historical fact.
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Geneva Airport recorded a clear increase in both revenue and, in particular, profit in 2024. The airport has now almost fully recovered from the Covid slump.
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At around 11:20am on Saturday the moon will begin to move in front of the sun in Switzerland. However, it will not completely cover it.
SlowUp cycle ride celebrates quarter-century in Switzerland
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Twenty-five years ago slowUp was launched as a pilot project for Expo.02 on the shores of Lake Morat in western Switzerland.
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.
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God continues to lose believers in Switzerland
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Religious beliefs in Switzerland continue to splinter, diversify and ultimately dwindle. But over half the population still prays.
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Swiss TV’s culture magazine, Kulturplatz, recently interviewed de Botton in London, where he has set up a ’School of Life’, a cultural enterprise offering courses on how to live wisely and well.(SRF/swissinfo.ch)
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Five years of research into religion in society, comprising 28 projects, has revealed that not only are the main established churches haemorrhaging members, most of those who stay within the fold have at most a superficial attachment to the church. The phenomenon of keeping religion at arms’ length was studied by sociologist Jörg Stolz of…
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If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.