Swiss population abroad increases on all continents

Number of Swiss abroad increases more slowly Keystone-SDA

The number of Swiss nationals living abroad continued to rise at the end of 2025, albeit at a slower rate than in the previous year. According to the Federal Statistical Office, just under half of the 836,000 Swiss Abroad lived in a neighbouring country.

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With an increase of 1.4%, growth was slightly lower than in the previous year (+1.6%), as reported by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Tuesday. The FSO cited an improvement in the reporting of deaths in some countries as one reason for this. Of the Swiss nationals living abroad, 21% were under the age of 18, more than half were between 18 and 64 and 24% were 65 or older.

Europe remains the most popular continent

The number of Swiss nationals living abroad increased on all continents. Asia recorded the highest growth at 3%, followed by Europe at 1.5%. The increase was 1.1% in North America, 1% in Oceania, 0.6% in Africa and 0.3% in Latin America and the Caribbean. In addition to migration movements, births, deaths and naturalisations also contributed to this development, wrote the FSO.

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A total of 64% of all Swiss nationals abroad lived in Europe in 2025, corresponding to 538,600 people. Of these, 392,200 people, or 47% of all Swiss Abroad, lived in a neighbouring country. The largest community was in France with 212,400 people. This was followed by Germany with 102,100, Italy with 53,100, Austria with 19,100 and Liechtenstein with 5,600 people.

Other large communities in Europe were in the United Kingdom (41,400) and Spain (28,200). The largest increases were recorded in Liechtenstein (+6.4%), Spain (+3.1%) and Austria (+2.1%).

Around 300,000 Swiss nationals lived outside Europe. The largest community was in the US with 85,900 people. Canada followed in second and third place with 42,000 and Australia with 27,000 nationals.

Border regions particularly popular

Within neighbouring countries, Swiss nationals often concentrated in regions close to the border. The largest single concentration was in the French department of Haute-Savoie with 50,800 people. The departments of Ain (18,100), Haut-Rhin (17,000) and Doubs (14,500) as well as the capital Paris (11,800) were also popular.

In Germany, 8,000 people from Switzerland lived in Berlin. The border regions of Lörrach (5,100), Waldshut (4,300) and Constance (3,000) as well as the cities of Munich (4,400) and Hamburg (3,100) were also in demand. In Italy, the province of Milan was the centre of attention with 6,800 people.

Translated from German by AI/jdp

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