Acquisition of Swiss citizenship

An acquisition of Swiss citizenship is when a foreign national obtains a Swiss passport. This person is henceforth included in the population statistics of Swiss nationals. There are five ways of acquiring Swiss citizenship:

  1. Standard naturalisation
  2. Simplified naturalisation
  3. Reintegration
  4. Ascertainment of Swiss citizenship
  5. Adoption of a minor child
Acquisition of Swiss citizenship, in thousand
  2020 2021 2022
Total
34.1 37.0 41.5
   Male 16.5 17.7 19.6
   Female 17.6 19.3 21.8
From:      

   Europe

28.1 30.7 34.5

   UE/EFTA

19.5 21.9 24.8

   Africa

2.1 2.1 2.4

   America

1.5 1.6 1.7

   Asia

2.4 2.5 2.7
Way of acquiring      

   Standard naturalisation

28.3 30.2 35.3

   Simplified naturalisation

5.8 6.7 6.0
Source: FSO – STATPOP

Changes in the law on the acquisition of Swiss citizenship (1978, 1992) have an influence on the annual number of Swiss citizenship acquisitions. These naturalisations concern foreigners who have lived for a long time in Switzerland, who grew up in this country or who married a Swiss citizen.

Tables

Maps

Data

Contact

Federal Statistical Office Section Demography and Migration
Espace de l'Europe 10
CH-2010 Neuchâtel
Switzerland

Contact

Remark

Our English pages offer only a limited range of information on our statistical production. For our full range please consult our pages in French and German (top right hand screen).

https://www.bfs.admin.ch/content/bfs/en/home/statistics/population/migration-integration/citizenship/acquisition-citizenship.html