The Swiss abroad particularly like to settle near the Swiss border. In the picture the French city of Mulhouse.Image: Shutterstock
Switzerland is a nation of emigrants. This conclusion is suggested by the statistics for the Swiss abroad. The Swiss community abroad grew by 1.4 percent in 2025. Almost two thirds of them live in Europe.
March 31, 2026, 10:12 amMarch 31, 2026, 10:12 am
The Swiss abroad will live here in 2024
The number of Swiss people abroad continued to rise at the end of 2025, albeit more slowly than in the previous year. According to the Federal Statistical Office, almost half of the 836,000 Swiss abroad lived in a neighboring country.
With an increase of 1.4 percent, growth was slightly lower compared to the previous year (plus 1.6 percent), as the Federal Statistical Office (BFS) announced on Tuesday. The BFS cited an improvement in the reporting of deaths in some countries as one reason for this. Of the Swiss citizens living abroad, 21 percent were younger than 18 years old, more than half were between 18 and 64 and 24 percent were 65 or older.
Where the Swiss will increasingly move in 2025
The number of Swiss living abroad increased on all continents. Asia recorded the greatest growth at 3.0 percent, followed by Europe at 1.5 percent. In North America the increase was 1.1 percent, in Oceania 1.0 percent, in Africa 0.6 percent and in Latin America and the Caribbean 0.3 percent. In addition to migration movements, births, deaths and naturalizations also contributed to this development, the BFS wrote.
The most popular emigrant destinations
A total of 64 percent of all Swiss abroad lived in Europe in 2025, which corresponded to 538,600 people. Of these, 392,200 people, or 47 percent of all Swiss abroad, lived in a directly neighboring 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 strongest increases were recorded in Liechtenstein (+6.4 percent), Spain (+3.1 percent) and Austria (+2.1 percent).
Around 300,000 Swiss citizens lived outside Europe. The largest community was in the USA with 85,900 people. In second and third place were Canada with 42,000 and Australia with 27,000 citizens.
Border regions are particularly popular
Within neighboring countries, the Swiss often concentrated on regions near 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 (5100), Waldshut (4300) and Konstanz (3000) as well as the cities of Munich (4400) and Hamburg (3100) were also in demand. In Italy, the province of Milan was the focus with 6,800 people.
A maximum of 10 Swiss abroad live here
A maximum of ten Swiss people live in 17 countries. In 2024 there were only twelve countries. Exactly one Swiss citizen lives in two countries, Palau and Micronesia. In Lesotho there are two.
Not a single Swiss abroad lives here
There are only five independent countries in the entire world in which not a single Swiss citizen abroad is registered. These are Turkmenistan, North Korea, Nauru, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands.
image: watson
- North Korea
- Marshall Islands
- Nauru
- Turkmenistan
- Tuvalu
North Korea
In 2022, for the first time since 1998, not a single Swiss citizen lived in North Korea. At its peak in 2005, there were nine people with Swiss passports who had settled in the “Evil Empire”. Because of the corona pandemic, Kim Jong-un sealed off his country even more than usual, and almost all diplomats and aid organizations withdrew.
Marshall Islands
In 2018, two Swiss citizens still lived in the 181 square kilometer archipelago. From 2019 to 2020 there was only one. Meanwhile, no person with a Swiss passport has pitched their tents there.
Nauru
Like Tuvalu, the island nation in the Pacific Ocean is one of the smallest countries in the world with a population of just under 10,000. There are currently no Swiss there. It is not clear whether a person with a Swiss passport was ever registered there.
Turkmenistan
In 2010 there were still eight Swiss citizens abroad registered in the Central Asian country. This was the temporary climax. Five years later, exactly one person with a Swiss passport remained permanently in the country, and since 2016 there have officially been no Swiss residents living in the country with around 5.7 million inhabitants.
Tuvalu
The Federal Statistical Office has been recording the island state in the Pacific Ocean since 1995. At that time there was still one Swiss person registered. Since 2002, there has been no consularly registered person with a Swiss passport living on the island with just over 10,000 inhabitants.
(with material from sda)