How many foreigners live in Switzerland in 2026?

2,528,117, as of the end of 2025. There is no newer official figure, the FSO counts at year end. That is 27.7% of the permanent resident population.

What is the foreign share in Switzerland?

27.7% (end of 2025), up from 22.4% at the end of 2010. People born abroad make up 32.9%, and 40.9% of people aged 15 and over have a migration background (2024).

Which canton has the highest foreign share?

Geneva with 41.9%. The lowest is Appenzell Innerrhoden with 13.0%.

Where do most foreigners in Switzerland come from?

From Italy (346,115), Germany (336,446) and Portugal (258,139). The 6 largest groups make up half together.

How many nationalities live in Switzerland?

195 nationalities with at least one person, plus 987 stateless people. The most in Geneva (194).

How many people were naturalised in 2025?

40,672. Since 2011 the total is 583,010, most of them Germans (91,752).

How many foreign nationals are in the asylum system?

116,912 people, 4.6% of foreign nationals (end of 2025): 65,260 with S status, 40,560 provisionally admitted (F) and 11,092 asylum seekers (N), insofar as they belong to the permanent resident population.

Do cross-border commuters count as foreigners?

No. The 414,262 foreign cross-border commuters (Q2 2026) work in Switzerland but live abroad. They appear in the FSO cross-border commuter statistics, not in the resident population.

Are children born in Switzerland Swiss?

Not automatically. Swiss citizenship comes mainly through descent or naturalisation, not through birth in the country. That is why 449,278 foreign nationals were born in Switzerland. Since 15 February 2018 the third generation can apply for facilitated naturalisation (Art. 24a SCA), but only on application and up to the age of 25.

What is the difference between the B and C permits?

B is the residence permit, granted for a limited period and renewed. C is the settlement permit, unlimited and possible after ten years, after five with good integration (Art. 34 FNIA). Only C holders with ten years of residence in total can apply for naturalisation (Art. 9 SCA). 55.6% of foreign nationals hold C, 37.8% hold B.

🌍 Population · Switzerland

Foreigners in Switzerland 2026: one in six was born here

Key takeaway

Switzerland has 2,528,117 foreign nationals, 27.7% of the permanent resident population (end of 2025, Federal Statistical Office). 449,278 of them were born in Switzerland, one in six.

A school cloakroom in the morning: children’s school bags, each one different, on wooden hooks, red rubber boots and children’s shoes below, an old globe on the shelf

Jump to the Swiss Origin Finder

In Switzerland, foreigner does not mean immigrant, it means: not naturalised. Three ways of counting, three numbers, and Italy, the largest group, leads in only 3 of the 26 cantons. The Origin Finder by ConvivaPlus covers each of the 195 nationalities and every canton.

Updated 20 October 2026· Data: FSO STATPOP end of 2025 · naturalisations 2025

2,528,117

foreign nationals

end of 2025

27.7%

foreign share

end of 2010: 22.4%

449,278

born in Switzerland

17.8% of foreign nationals

195

nationalities

at least one person

Contents

🌍 Foreigners in Switzerland 2026: 27.7%, as of end of 2025

There is no official figure for 2026 yet: the Federal Statistical Office counts once a year, at year end, and publishes the figure for the end of 2026 during 2027. This page will then pick it up automatically. At the end of 2010 there were 1,766,277, or 22.4%.

Of the 2,528,117, 449,278 were born in Switzerland (17.8%). They grew up here and still count as foreigners: Swiss citizenship comes mainly through descent or naturalisation, not through birth in the country. The other 2,078,839 were born abroad.

🔢 Foreign share or migration background? Three ways to count, three numbers

27.7%, 32.9% or 40.9%: depending on what you count, the share is a very different one. And 920,521 Swiss citizens were born abroad, twice as many as foreign nationals born in Switzerland.

Why different foreign shares are quoted

27.7% without a Swiss passport: 2,528,117 of the 9,127,125 permanent residents. This is the FSO foreign share.
32.9% born abroad: 2,999,360 people, 920,521 of them with a Swiss passport, such as children of Swiss abroad and naturalised citizens.
40.9% with a migration background: 3,086,000 people aged 15 and over (2024). This includes naturalised citizens and children born here to immigrant parents. The figure comes from a sample survey (SLFS) and only covers people aged 15 and over.
In none of the three: the 414,262 foreign cross-border commuters (Q2 2026), who work here but live abroad.

Which figure is right? All three, they answer different questions: who has no Swiss passport? Who was not born here? Whose family immigrated? Anyone saying «foreign share» means the first.

🇮🇹 Nationalities in Switzerland: Italy first, Germany in 16 cantons

Half of all foreign nationals come from just 6 countries. Italy is the largest group with 346,115 people, but it is the largest in only 3 cantons: Glarus, Solothurn and Ticino. Germany (336,446) is the largest in 16 of 26.

The ten largest groups, end of 2025

Italy346,115

Germany336,446

Portugal258,139

France179,386

Kosovo116,865

Spain104,448

Türkiye78,804

Ukraine74,207

North Macedonia70,437

Serbia55,233

The 6 largest groups (Italy, Germany, Portugal, France, Kosovo and Spain) make up 53.1% together. In 4 cantons Portuguese nationals are the largest group (Fribourg, Grisons, Valais and Neuchâtel), in 3 French nationals (Vaud, Geneva and Jura). How Switzerland compares with the countries of Europe is shown on the page on the foreign share in Europe.

In the Origin Finder by ConvivaPlus you pick one of the 195 nationalities and see how many people it counts, how the number has changed since 2010 and in which cantons they live. Or you pick a canton and see its largest groups.

🌍 Origin Finder by ConvivaPlus: pick a country or a canton

Origin Finder by ConvivaPlus

195 nationalities × 26 cantons, 2010 to 2025, from the FSO population statistics.

Nationality

Italy: 346,115 people, rank 1 of 195

End of 2010: 287,130 → end of 2025: 346,115 (+58,985)

Across Switzerland: settlement C 71.6% · residence B 27.5%

Naturalised in 2025: 4,120 · since 2011: 68,966

In 26 of 26 cantons, most in the canton of Ticino:

Ticino65,407
Zurich62,239
Aargau30,552
Vaud29,676
Bern21,254

Within a canton, groups of 1 to 4 people are shown as «fewer than 5». Permits (B, C, S) are only given for Switzerland as a whole.

Source: FSO STATPOP, permanent resident population by nationality and canton (2010–2025) · acquisition of Swiss citizenship (2011–2025) · as of year end

No guarantee. The data of the Federal Statistical Office are authoritative.

verified · ConvivaPlus

Switzerland in numbers

Population of Switzerland →All 26 cantons and the age turning point.

Foreign share in Europe →Switzerland compared with EU countries.

🗺️ Foreign share by canton: Geneva first, Appenzell Innerrhoden last

Geneva has the highest foreign share in Switzerland, 41.9%, and it is where the share has risen least since 2010: by 2.8 percentage points. The sharpest rise was in Fribourg (+7.6). In 2010 Uri had the lowest share of any canton, 9.7%; today it is 15.8%.

Foreign share of the 26 cantons, end of 2010 and end of 2025

Canton	Foreign nationals	Share 2025	Share 2010	Percentage points
1.Geneva	225,267	41.9%	39.1%	+2.8
2.Basel-Stadt	80,021	39.2%	32.5%	+6.7
3.Vaud	295,819	34.3%	31.0%	+3.3
4.Zug	41,347	30.6%	23.7%	+6.9
5.Ticino	107,200	29.8%	26.0%	+3.8
6.Schaffhausen	26,530	29.4%	23.1%	+6.3
7.Zurich	476,608	29.2%	24.1%	+5.1
8.Aargau	209,284	28.1%	21.9%	+6.2
9.Thurgau	84,459	27.9%	21.5%	+6.3
10.Neuchâtel	49,276	27.3%	23.0%	+4.3
11.St. Gallen	147,947	27.2%	21.8%	+5.4
12.Glarus	11,409	26.9%	20.4%	+6.5
13.Valais	99,670	26.5%	21.0%	+5.5
14.Basel-Landschaft	78,615	25.9%	19.3%	+6.6
15.Solothurn	75,418	25.9%	19.8%	+6.1
16.Fribourg	90,585	25.8%	18.2%	+7.6
17.Schwyz	41,347	24.3%	18.6%	+5.7
18.Lucerne	96,796	21.9%	16.7%	+5.3
19.Grisons	44,059	21.2%	16.7%	+4.6
20.Bern	200,123	18.6%	13.4%	+5.2
21.Appenzell Ausserrhoden	10,433	18.2%	14.2%	+4.1
22.Nidwalden	8,279	18.1%	11.4%	+6.7
23.Obwalden	6,949	17.4%	13.4%	+4.0
24.Jura	12,383	16.5%	12.5%	+4.0
25.Uri	6,098	15.8%	9.7%	+6.1
26.Appenzell Innerrhoden	2,195	13.0%	10.0%	+3.0

Only 9 of the 26 cantons are above the Swiss figure of 27.7%, yet 61% of all foreign residents live in them.

The lowest share today is in Appenzell Innerrhoden with 13.0%. It has risen in every canton since 2010. The total population of each canton is on the page population of Switzerland.

📈 Trend since 2010: France grows the most

Since the end of 2010 the foreign population has grown by 761,840 people. The largest increase is not Germany's but France's: +83,743, almost a doubling (88%).

Foreign nationals in Switzerland, year end

20101,766,277

20131,937,447

20162,101,146

20192,175,375

20222,296,023

20252,528,117

Germany follows with +73,175 (28%), Italy with +58,985 (21%). The trend for each nationality is in the Origin Finder above.

🛂 Permits B, C, S: who may stay for how long

78% of Kosovans hold the C settlement permit, only 23% of Poles. Across all groups, 55.6% of foreign nationals hold it.

Foreign nationals by permit, end of 2025

settlement C1,406,673

residence B955,652

S status65,260

provisionally admitted F40,560

diplomats, int. officials and families32,993

short-term L15,887

asylum seekers N11,092

The twelve largest groups by permit, end of 2025

Nationality	People	settlement C	residence B
Italy	346,115	72%	27%
Germany	336,446	64%	35%
Portugal	258,139	73%	26%
France	179,386	54%	44%
Kosovo	116,865	78%	21%
Spain	104,448	58%	40%
Türkiye	78,804	62%	31%
Ukraine	74,207	4%	6%
North Macedonia	70,437	75%	25%
Serbia	55,233	80%	19%
Poland	49,846	23%	74%
Austria	48,347	71%	28%

The highest share of C permits belongs not to Italy, the largest group (72%, rank 5 of twelve), but to Serbia at 80%.

The C permit can be granted after ten years in Switzerland, after five with good integration or for citizens of some countries (Art. 34 FNIA). Recent arrivals mostly hold the B residence permit (37.8% overall). Many Polish nationals arrived only recently: at the end of 2010, 11,682 Polish nationals lived in Switzerland, today there are 49,846.

💡Did you know?

5 people from Vatican City live in Switzerland. Nobody from 3 countries lives here: Tuvalu, Palau and the Cook Islands.

Source: BFS STATPOP

🇨🇭 Swiss naturalisation: Germans first

No group produces as many new Swiss citizens as Germans: 8,779 in 2025, 91,752 since 2011. Among the 6 largest groups, Portuguese nationals naturalise least often: 0.70% of them per year, against 2.66% of Germans.

Naturalisations 2025 by former nationality

Germany8,779

Italy4,120

France3,758

Kosovo2,088

Portugal1,809

Türkiye1,382

North Macedonia1,289

Spain1,255

In total, 40,672 people were naturalised in 2025, 583,010 since 2011. The rate is the crude naturalisation rate: naturalisations in the year divided by the foreign population at the start of the year.

🏛️ Naturalisation by canton: the ConvivaPlus Origin Map

Per foreign resident, Zurich naturalises 4.4 times as often as Appenzell Innerrhoden, while Geneva ranks only 15th. Zurich reaches 2.30% a year, Appenzell Innerrhoden 0.52%, Geneva, the canton with the highest foreign share, 1.28%. One federal act, 26 procedures: each canton sets its own minimum period of residence, somewhere between two and five years (Art. 18 SCA).

ConvivaPlus Origin Map: all 26 cantons

Canton	largest group	Countries	Naturalisations 2025	naturalisation rate
1.Zurich	Germany	184	10,817	2.30%
2.Basel-Stadt	Germany	163	1,465	1.88%
3.Zug	Germany	149	755	1.85%
4.Vaud	France	184	5,327	1.83%
5.Bern	Germany	182	3,491	1.77%
6.Grisons	Portugal	135	730	1.68%
7.Neuchâtel	Portugal	152	802	1.65%
8.Schaffhausen	Germany	129	419	1.63%
9.Aargau	Germany	171	3,335	1.63%
10.Basel-Landschaft	Germany	157	1,212	1.58%
11.St. Gallen	Germany	166	2,110	1.45%
12.Lucerne	Germany	166	1,311	1.39%
13.Appenzell Ausserrhoden	Germany	118	134	1.30%
14.Jura	France	128	156	1.29%
15.Geneva	France	194	2,830	1.28%
16.Nidwalden	Germany	111	99	1.23%
17.Valais	Portugal	168	1,162	1.21%
18.Thurgau	Germany	150	992	1.20%
19.Fribourg	Portugal	160	992	1.13%
20.Glarus	Italy	114	123	1.09%
21.Uri	Germany	108	63	1.08%
22.Ticino	Italy	158	1,132	1.07%
23.Schwyz	Germany	143	416	1.02%
24.Solothurn	Italy	153	751	1.01%
25.Obwalden	Germany	108	37	0.55%
26.Appenzell Innerrhoden	Germany	82	11	0.52%

Zurich alone naturalised 10,817 people in 2025, more than the 18 cantons with the fewest naturalisations combined (9,986).

Method: ConvivaPlus analysis of the FSO STATPOP statistics (permanent resident population by nationality, end of 2025) and the statistics on the acquisition of Swiss citizenship (2025). Countries = nationalities with at least one person in the canton. Naturalisation rate = naturalisations 2025 divided by the foreign population at the end of 2024.

🌐 195 nationalities: Geneva has almost all of them

Geneva is home to people from 194 of the 195 countries represented in Switzerland. Only Western Sahara is missing, with 7 people in all of Switzerland. In Appenzell Innerrhoden the figure is 82.

The smallest groups in Switzerland: 3 people from the Solomon Islands, 4 from Kiribati, 5 from Vatican City. 62 nationalities are present in all 26 cantons. Nobody from 3 of the 198 countries on the FSO list lives here (Tuvalu, Palau and the Cook Islands). There are also 987 stateless people.

🇺🇦 Ukraine and S status: from rank 39 to rank 8

At the end of 2010, 4,843 Ukrainians lived in Switzerland; at the end of 2025 there are 74,207. In 15 years Ukraine has moved from rank 39 to rank 8, ahead of Serbia and North Macedonia.

63,808 of them hold protection status S, which the Federal Council activated in March 2022 for people from Ukraine. Of all 65,260 people with S status in Switzerland, 97.8% come from Ukraine. S is temporary protection; more from the State Secretariat for Migration (in German).

📊

Quick poll

What's your guess: how many foreign nationals in Switzerland were born here?

One click – anonymous, no sign-up required.

❓ Frequently asked questions about foreigners in Switzerland

All figures from the Federal Statistical Office, as of end of 2025.

🔍

The origin finding

Half of the foreign population comes from 6 countries, all of them European. And much of it is not new: 55.6% hold settlement permits, one in six was born here. The foreign share therefore mainly measures one thing: who is not naturalised.