Switzerland religion 2026: 26 cantons, Bern last Reformed
Bern is the only canton where the Reformed Church is still the largest group, with 40.8%: the largest group, not a majority. Nationally, people with no religion now lead. Here are all 26 cantons from 2010 to 2024, the cities, age and origin. The Faith Tipping Point by ConvivaPlus shows the year your canton flipped: Basel-Stadt and Neuchâtel by 2010 at the latest, Schaffhausen last, in 2023.
📊 Switzerland religion: no religion is the largest group
Almost twice as many people have no religion as belong to the Reformed Church: 36.8% against 18.7%. In 2010 it was the other way round, 28.0% Reformed against 20.1% with no religion. Catholics today make up 30.0%.
Nationally, people with no religion have led the Catholics since 2022. The count covers everyone aged 15 and over in private households, 7,507,509 people. The structural survey is a sample, so every figure has a confidence interval. This page only calls one group larger than another if the two intervals do not overlap. Otherwise it says "level".
🗺️ Religion by canton: Bern is the last Reformed canton
Only the canton of Bern still has the Reformed as its largest group (40.8%). In 2010, 6 cantons did. And in the canton of Zurich, where Zwingli preached the Reformation, people with no religion now lead (40.5%), with Reformed (21.8%) and Catholics (21.3%) level.
| Canton | largest group | none | Catholic | Reformed | Tipping point |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.Basel-Stadt | no religion | 59.0% | 12.6% | 11.1% | by 2010 at the latest |
| 2.Neuchâtel | no religion | 55.8% | 17.2% | 14.6% | by 2010 at the latest |
| 3.Geneva | no religion | 48.8% | 26.6% | 6.7% | 2015 |
| 4.Solothurn | no religion | 42.3% | 25.4% | 15.5% | 2019 |
| 5.Vaud | no religion | 41.8% | 25.0% | 17.5% | 2016 |
| 6.Zurich | no religion | 40.5% | 21.3% | 21.8% | 2018 |
| 7.Basel-Landschaft | no religion | 40.3% | 22.1% | 23.9% | 2018 |
| 8.Aargau | no religion | 39.6% | 25.3% | 17.6% | 2019 |
| 9.Schaffhausen | no religion | 37.5% | 17.8% | 28.0% | 2023 |
| 10.Zug | Catholic | 34.4% | 42.0% | 11.8% | – |
| 11.Thurgau | no religion | 32.1% | 27.4% | 25.1% | 2022 |
| 12.Bern | Reformed | 31.5% | 13.9% | 40.8% | – |
| 13.Schwyz | Catholic | 31.1% | 49.7% | 8.3% | – |
| 14.Appenzell Ausserrhoden | level | 30.7% | 25.7% | 32.2% | – |
| 15.Glarus | level | 30.6% | 28.3% | 26.6% | – |
| 16.Ticino | Catholic | 30.6% | 56.2% | 3.2% | – |
| 17.Grisons | Catholic | 30.3% | 35.9% | 26.2% | – |
| 18.Fribourg | Catholic | 30.2% | 49.2% | 10.5% | – |
| 19.St. Gallen | Catholic | 30.2% | 36.2% | 16.4% | – |
| 20.Lucerne | Catholic | 30.2% | 49.3% | 8.4% | – |
| 21.Nidwalden | Catholic | 28.0% | 57.0% | 7.6% | – |
| 22.Obwalden | Catholic | 27.5% | 56.6% | 6.1% | – |
| 23.Jura | Catholic | 25.7% | 57.3% | 7.2% | – |
| 24.Valais | Catholic | 24.0% | 61.6% | 5.1% | – |
| 25.Uri | Catholic | 21.7% | 67.3% | 3.7% | – |
| 26.Appenzell Innerrhoden | Catholic | 17.5% | 67.4% | 10.5% | – |
13 cantons have Catholics in the lead, 10 people with no religion, just one the Reformed. In Glarus and Appenzell Ausserrhoden the groups are level.
One reason the picture differs so much between cantons is the law: relations between church and state are a matter for the cantons, not the federal government (Federal Constitution, Art. 72). Each canton decides which churches it recognises under public law and whether they levy church tax. Freedom of religion applies throughout the country (Art. 15), see religious freedom in Switzerland.
⏳ No religion by canton: the ConvivaPlus Faith Tipping Point
Basel-Stadt and Neuchâtel flipped by 2010 at the latest, Schaffhausen only in 2023. 10 of 26 cantons now have people with no religion as their largest group, the other 16 do not. Secularisation is not equally advanced everywhere.
The Faith Tipping Point by ConvivaPlus is the year from which "no religion" has been a canton's largest group without interruption. Pick your canton and see how the Reformed, Catholics and people with no religion have changed since 2010.
26 cantons × 15 years × 8 groups from the FSO structural survey.
Canton of Zurich: no religion in the lead since 2018
2024: no religion 40.5% · Catholic 21.3% · Reformed 21.8%
Canton of Bern: Reformed still in the lead
2024: no religion 31.5% · Catholic 13.9% · Reformed 40.8%
| 2010 → 2024 | |
|---|---|
| no religion | 22.4% → 40.5% |
| Catholic | 27.9% → 21.3% |
| Reformed | 33.9% → 21.8% |
| other Christian | 6.5% → 6.6% |
| Muslim | 5.7% → 7.0% |
All cantons that have flipped, by year:
Tipping point = first year from which "no religion" is, in every following year, clearly the largest group (confidence intervals do not overlap). "by 2010 at the latest": the cantonal series starts in 2010.
Source: FSO structural survey, religious affiliation by canton 2010–2024, permanent resident population aged 15+ in private households · analysis ConvivaPlus
No guarantee. The data of the Federal Statistical Office are authoritative.
⛪ Geneva religion: the city of the Reformation
The city of the Reformation, and in the canton of Geneva 6.7% are Reformed today: fewer than Muslims (7.8%). Catholics outnumber the Reformed four to one (26.6%).
The largest group in the canton of Geneva since 2015 has been people with no religion, at 48.8%. In the city of Geneva, 9.8% were Reformed in 2010 and 5.4% in 2024. Calvin's Geneva is thus one of the cantons where fewer than one person in ten is Reformed, like Ticino, Uri, Valais, Obwalden, Jura, Nidwalden, Schwyz and Lucerne.
Zwingli preached in Zurich, Calvin in Geneva. In both cantons the largest group today has no religion.
ConvivaPlus Faith Tipping Point, FSO structural survey 2024
In Geneva, Calvin's city, 6.7% are Reformed today and 26.6% Catholic.
👶 Religion by age: it is not the youngest
The age group most often without religion is not the 15–24s (34.5%) but the 25–44s (45.4%). Among the over-65s it is 24.4%.
Among the over-65s the churches are still clearly ahead: 36.1% Catholic, 30.3% Reformed. In Ticino, 41.0% of 15–24-year-olds have no religion, against 17.1% of the over-65s.
🌍 Religion and origin: immigrants more often without religion
Immigration does not mean more religion: first-generation foreign nationals, born abroad, more often have no religion than Swiss citizens without a migration background, 42.7% against 34.3%.
Foreign nationals born in Switzerland (2nd generation) look different: 30.1% no religion, 46.1% Catholic. The differences by nationality are in the table in the next section.
✝️ Catholics in Switzerland: one in four without a Swiss passport
One in four Catholics in Switzerland does not hold a Swiss passport (24.9%); among the Reformed it is one in twenty (4.9%). Most of them hold an Italian or Portuguese passport.
| Nationality | Catholic | Reformed | no religion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Switzerland | 32.4% | 26.0% | 32.0% |
| Germany | 18.3% | 16.0% | 58.2% |
| France | 24.6% | 1.5% | 64.8% |
| Spain | 46.4% | 0.9% | 47.0% |
| Portugal | 63.7% | 0.4% | 31.7% |
| Italy | 64.1% | 0.5% | 26.8% |
| Balkan states | 4.8% | 0.1% | 16.3% |
| Türkiye | 0.4% | 0.2% | 33.1% |
| Rest of Europe | 25.0% | 3.3% | 50.0% |
| North Africa | 0.3% | 0.2% | 22.8% |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | 16.6% | 8.7% | 12.8% |
| Middle East | 3.6% | 1.0% | 24.6% |
| Rest of Asia | 8.1% | 1.5% | 31.0% |
| Americas and Caribbean | 30.0% | 5.4% | 52.0% |
| Oceania | 8.4% | 4.1% | 73.1% |
And a count almost nobody expects: counting only Swiss citizens, Catholics are still the largest group (32.4%), just ahead of people with no religion (32.0%). Only across the whole population does no religion take the lead. Italians are 64.1% Catholic, Portuguese 63.7%. Germans (58.2%) and French (64.8%) mostly have no religion. Basis: 2020-2024 pooled.
🕍 Religious communities Switzerland: Orthodox ahead of evangelicals
The Orthodox and Oriental churches have 214,208 members, almost four times as many as evangelical and Pentecostal churches combined (58,495). And there are two and a half times as many Hindus (44,436) as Jews (17,310).
A recognised church smaller than Buddhism: the Christ Catholic Church is recognised under public law, in Zurich for example, like the Reformed and Catholic churches, yet it has 7,520 members. Buddhist communities are more than four times as large (38,103). Members aged 15+, years 2022-2024 pooled; otherwise the small communities would be too rare in the sample.
🕌 Muslims in Switzerland, in brief
6.0% of people aged 15+ belong to an Islamic community, level with other Christian communities (6.0%, the intervals overlap). 37.6% of them hold a Swiss passport. Everything else, by canton and origin: Muslims in Switzerland.
🏙️ Religion in cities: Thun from 58.5% to 41.5% Reformed
Thun was 58.5% Reformed in 2010 and is 41.5% in 2024. In Basel 59.4% have no religion, about as many as in the Neuchâtel cities and more than in Zurich or Geneva (about half each). And in Bellinzona more than half are still Catholic (56.0%).
| City | none | Catholic | Reformed | Reformed 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.Basel | 59.4% | 12.3% | 10.3% | 18.1% |
| 2.La Chaux-de-Fonds | 57.8% | 17.1% | 10.2% | 17.9% |
| 3.Neuchâtel | 57.2% | 17.0% | 10.8% | 18.8% |
| 4.Geneva | 49.5% | 25.8% | 5.4% | 9.8% |
| 5.Zurich | 49.3% | 20.1% | 15.2% | 25.7% |
| 6.Lancy | 47.5% | 29.8% | 4.4% | 10.3% |
| 7.Lausanne | 46.3% | 24.3% | 10.5% | 18.5% |
| 8.Vernier | 43.6% | 28.3% | 5.5% | 10.0% |
| 9.Bern | 42.2% | 16.4% | 27.8% | 41.4% |
| 10.Zug | 39.8% | 35.5% | 12.7% | 15.2% |
| 11.Lucerne | 39.2% | 36.8% | 8.7% | 13.0% |
| 12.Schaffhausen | 39.2% | 19.0% | 25.0% | 35.5% |
| 13.Uster | 39.2% | 22.6% | 24.4% | 33.0% |
| 14.Biel/Bienne | 37.6% | 23.9% | 17.7% | 32.1% |
| 15.Winterthur | 37.5% | 18.7% | 22.5% | 34.4% |
| 16.Köniz | 35.8% | 16.6% | 32.3% | 48.6% |
| 17.St. Gallen | 35.7% | 27.1% | 15.1% | 22.5% |
| 18.Yverdon-les-Bains | 34.9% | 24.1% | 16.1% | 25.9% |
| 19.Fribourg | 34.8% | 42.6% | 4.9% | 6.3% |
| 20.Lugano | 34.2% | 50.7% | 3.3% | 4.0% |
| 21.Thun | 32.7% | 11.4% | 41.5% | 58.5% |
| 22.Chur | 32.7% | 33.7% | 22.0% | 31.4% |
| 23.Bellinzona | 30.5% | 56.0% | 1.7% | 1.8% |
| 24.Emmen | 28.7% | 41.7% | 5.7% | 9.0% |
| 25.Sion | 25.8% | 55.0% | 3.7% | 6.1% |
In every one of the 25 cities, the Reformed share has fallen or stayed the same since 2010. Basel and the Neuchâtel cities of La Chaux-de-Fonds and Neuchâtel lead for no religion; Bellinzona, Sion and Lugano for Catholics.
📜 Religion since 1910: from 57.6% to 18.7% Reformed
In 1960, one person in two hundred had no religion; today it is more than one in three: from 0.5% to 36.8%. The Reformed fell from their 1941 peak of 57.6% to 18.7%.
| Year | Reformed | Catholic | no religion |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1910 | 56.2% | 42.5% | – |
| 1920 | 57.5% | 40.9% | – |
| 1930 | 57.3% | 41.0% | – |
| 1941 | 57.6% | 40.4% | – |
| 1950 | 56.3% | 41.5% | – |
| 1960 | 52.7% | 45.4% | 0.5% |
| 1970 | 48.8% | 46.7% | 1.2% |
| 1980 | 45.3% | 46.2% | 3.9% |
| 1990 | 39.6% | 46.2% | 7.5% |
| 2000 | 33.9% | 42.3% | 11.4% |
| 2010 | 28.0% | 38.6% | 20.1% |
| 2024 | 18.7% | 30.0% | 36.8% |
And a flip older than the rise of no religion: only in 1980 did the census count more Catholics than Reformed (46.2% against 45.3%). Careful when comparing: until 2000 the census counted the whole population; since 2010 the structural survey estimates people aged 15+ in private households. Part of the jump between 2000 and 2010 is therefore method, not only change.
What do you think: in how many of the 26 cantons are the Reformed still the largest group?
One click – anonymous, no sign-up required.
❓ Frequently asked questions about religion in Switzerland
All figures from the structural survey of the Federal Statistical Office, survey year 2024.
People also ask
Related questions from our magazine
6.0% of the population aged 15+ belong to an Islamic community. By canton, origin and passport on the dedicated page.
The Federal Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and conscience (Art. 15). What that means for school, work and leaving a church is on the dedicated page.
All nationalities by canton since 2010, with permits and naturalisations, in the Origin Finder by ConvivaPlus.
The tipping-point finding
Switzerland in numbers
Faith, law, population
ConvivaPlus Editor · Data & Switzerland
Writes about Switzerland in figures – official data recalculated, counting method explained.
- Population
- 26 cantons
- Waterways
- Official data
All information without guarantee. Found an error? → support@conviva-plus.ch
Found an error or have feedback? Let us know or write to us directly.