The number of Swiss nationals living abroad is on the rise, as is the number of Swiss people with dual citizenship.
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At the end of December 2010, there were 695,101 Swiss citizens living abroad. That is 10,127 people – or 1.5 per cent more – than the year before.
The Swiss foreign ministry attributes this increase to dual nationals who acquired Swiss citizenship either by birth or naturalisation.
In a statement released on Thursday, the ministry noted that there had been a strong rise in the number of dual nationals between December 2009 and December 2010. That figure went up by 8,852 to 502,320.
It noted that more than ten per cent of Swiss citizens live abroad. Nearly 60 per cent of them have settled in the European Union – in particular France (181,462), Germany (77,827), Italy (49,187) and Britain (29,505).
Outside Europe, the largest groups of Swiss live in the United States (75,252) and Canada (39,186).
In 2010, there was also an increase in the number of Swiss abroad who registered to vote in Switzerland. That figure rose 4.5 per cent to 135,877 which represents just over a quarter of those eligible to vote.
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