Global InformationSwiss people information
 | Parts of this article (those related to Swiss abroad in infobox) need to be updated. The reason given is: Source Auslandschweizerstatistik is from 2016, besides there seems to be some vandalism in the infobox since several figures don't match. (February 2024) |
 Flag of Switzerland, a federal symbol used to represent all Swiss citizens | |
 Official photo of the Federal Council (2008), idealized depiction of a multi-ethnic Swiss society. | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
 c. 8–9 million (2016)[a] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Switzerland 6.4 million (2019)[1] | |
Swiss abroad | 0.8 million (2016)[2] |
Swiss ancestry | c. 1.5 million[3] |
 France | 209,287 |
 Germany | 99,582 |
 United States | 83,667 |
 Italy | 51,964 |
 Canada | 41,463 |
 United Kingdom | 40,183 |
 Spain | 26,499 |
 Australia | 26,374 |
 Israel | 23,670 |
 Austria | 18,350 |
 Argentina | 15,120 |
 Brazil | 13,611 |
 Thailand | 10,414 |
 Netherlands | 10,195 |
 Belgium | 8,651 |
 South Africa | 7,743 |
 New Zealand | 7,345 |
 Portugal | 6,916 |
 Sweden | 6,601 |
 Chile | 5,730 |
 Turkey | 5,405 |
 Mexico | 5,289 |
 Liechtenstein | 4,878 |
 Denmark | 3,720 |
 Philippines | 3,615 |
 United Arab Emirates | 3,452 |
 Serbia | 3,446 |
 Greece | 3,048 |
 Norway | 2,956 |
 Peru | 2,884 |
 China | 2,564 |
 Colombia | 2,348 |
 Hungary | 2,229 |
| Languages | |
| Swiss German, Swiss Standard German, Bolze Swiss French, Frainc-Comtou, Franco-Provençal Swiss Italian, Lombard Romansh Swiss-German Sign, Swiss-Italian Sign, Swiss-French Sign | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholicism, Swiss Reformed, atheism[4] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Romansh people, Liechtensteiners, Germans, Austrians, French, Italians and Celts | |
The Swiss people (German: die Schweizer, French: les Suisses, Italian: gli Svizzeri, Romansh: ils Svizzers) are the citizens of the multi-ethnic Swiss Confederation (Switzerland) regardless of ethno-cultural background[b] or people of self-identified Swiss ancestry.
The number of Swiss nationals has grown from 1.7 million in 1815 to 8.7 million in 2020. More than 1.5 million Swiss citizens hold multiple citizenship.[5] About 11% of citizens live abroad (0.8 million, of whom 0.6 million hold multiple citizenship). About 60% of those living abroad reside in the European Union (0.46 million). The largest groups of Swiss descendants and nationals outside Europe are found in the United States, Brazil and Canada.
Although the modern state of Switzerland originated in 1848, the period of romantic nationalism, it is not a nation-state, and the Swiss are not a single ethnic group, but rather are a confederacy (Eidgenossenschaft) or Willensnation ("nation of will", "nation by choice", that is, a consociational state), a term coined in conscious contrast to "nation" in the conventionally linguistic or ethnic sense of the term.
The demonym Swiss (formerly in English also called Switzer) and the name of Switzerland, ultimately derive from the toponym Schwyz, have been in widespread use to refer to the Old Swiss Confederacy since the 16th century.[6]
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
- ^ "Bevölkerungsbestand am Ende des 2. Quartal 2019" [Recent monthly and quarterly figures: provisional data] (XLS) (official statistics) (in German, French, and Italian). Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), Swiss Confederation. 19 September 2019. 1155-1500. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
- ^ "Auslandschweizerstatistik 2016" (PDF) (in German). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2018.: total: 775k, single citizenship: 205k. Geographical distribution: Europe: 482k (France: 201k, Germany: 89k, Italy 52k); Americas: 185k (USA 81k, Canada 40k); Oceania 81k; Asia: 54k; Africa: 22k.
- ^ Swiss Americans: 917k ±20k (Results – Community Survey 2013 Archived 2020-02-12 at archive.today, includes 80k Swiss citizens with residence in the US) Swiss Canadian: 147k (26k "single ethnic", 121k "multi-ethnic" responses; includes 40k Swiss citizens with residence in Canada) ("Ethnic Origin, 2011 National Household Survey". Statistics Canada. 8 May 2013. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2013.) Swiss Argentine: 300k (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto de la República Argentina. "La emigración suiza a la Argentina (Swiss emigration to Argentina)" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2014.). Swiss Chilean: 100k (actual supera los 100.000 ciudadanos, la mayor de América Latina" Archived 2014-10-16 at the Wayback Machine) Swiss Brazilian: 80k (História, Ciências, Saúde-Manguinhos - From Nova Friburgo to Fribourg in writing: Swiss colonization seen by the immigrants Archived 7 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Swiss Australian: 12k by birth, 29k by ancestry (2011 census).
- ^ Ständige Wohnbevölkerung ab 15 Jahren nach Religionszugehörigkeit Archived 18 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Swiss Central Statistical Office 2015 Report. N.b.: the report contains data of the statistical analyses of the years 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.
- ^ 916k out of 5,293k of permanent residents of Switzerland aged 15 and over ("Ständige Wohnbevölkerung ab 15 Jahren nach doppelter Staatszugehörigkeit (2016)" (in German). Archived from the original on 11 November 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.) plus 570k out of 775k Swiss abroad ("Auslandschweizerstatistik 2016" (PDF) (in German). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2018.).
- ^ "Schwyz". New Oxford American Dictionary.