Identity and belonging

Today's society comprises diverse identities. What do people living in Switzerland identify with, how do they define themselves and what characteristics are important to their identity? The indicator on identity deals with the subjective importance given to personal characteristics.

Four characteristics stand out as being particularly important in the eyes of the population in 2023. They are: family situation, language, occupation or education and training, and nationality. Almost 50% of the population consider these four characteristics to be important to their identity. On average, people mention four different characteristics.

Socio-demographic profile

Sex, age, migration status and level of education play a role in people's subjective assessment of the relative importance of these four main identity characteristics.

Socio-demographic profile, 2023

	Family situation	Language	Occupation, education	Nationality
Total	55.0	54.7	52.3	45.8
Men	50.2	53.4	53.3	46.4
Women	59.7	56.0	51.4	45.2
15-24	38.7	49.7	57.1	44.0
25-39	46.6	49.7	57.4	37.7
40-54	58.9	52.3	51.3	40.4
55-64	58.3	58.6	51.3	47.8
65-88	67.3	63.3	45.4	61.6
Without migration background	56.3	58.8	51.7	48.8
With migration background	53.2	48.7	53.2	41.4
Compulsory education	53.7	52.5	35.0	51.8
Secondary education	56.7	54.7	47.7	46.7
Tertiary education	54.3	55.5	62.0	43.4

The family situation is especially important for people aged 65 and over and particularly unimportant for young people aged 15 to 24. It is also more important to women than men.

The proportion of people who consider occupation or education to be important is higher among people with tertiary-level education and training than among people whose highest achieved level is completing compulsory education.

As for nationality, it plays a key role for people aged 65 or over, people whose highest achieved level of education is compulsory education, but also for people without a migration background.

Life situation

Does the importance of characteristics for identity reflect people's life situations?

Importance of family situation, 2023

Marital status
Single	40.3
Married	65.8
Widowed	66.5
Divorced	50.3
Household type
Single-person	45.5
Non-family	36.8
Couple without children*	56.8
Couple with children*	60.3
Lone-parent with children*	55.5

* living in household

Compared with single people, married and widowed people consider their marital status to be more important in terms of their identity. Compared with people living alone, people living in couples with or without children also consider it to be more important.

Importance of language, 2023

Nationality
Swiss	58.1
Foreign	44.5
Language region
German and Romansh	55.0
French	55.3
Italian	46.6

Compared with foreign nationals, Swiss nationals consider their language to be more important in terms of identity. However, there is no statistically significant difference between Switzerland's different language regions as far as this characteristic is concerned.

Importance of occupation or education and training, 2023

Educational level
Compulsory	35.0
Upper secondary	47.7
Tertiary	62.0
Selection of occupations
Managers	57.9
Professionals	71.6
Technicians and intermediate professionals	54.8
Clerical support workers	43.3
Service and sales workers	50.8

Compared with persons whose highest achieved level of education is compulsory education, people with tertiary-level education consider their occupation or education and training as being more important in terms of identity. Compared with clerical support workers, professionals consider it to be more important.

Importance of nationality, 2023

Nationality
Swiss	48.0
Foreign	39.2
Migration status
Without migration background	48.8
With migraiton background	41.4

Compared with foreign nationals, Swiss nationals consider their nationality to be more important in terms of identity. People without a migration background consider nationality to be more important than people with such a background.

Method

Proportion of the population who considers the characteristics to be important to their identity. See codebook questions mean_ident.

Codebook

Advantages and disadvantages

In relation to questions of identity, the figures below indicate which individual characteristics can be advantageous when living in Switzerland and which can become an obstacle.

Nationality is one of the most important characteristics in the eyes of the population. Is ethnic identity an advantage or disadvantage when it comes to living in Switzerland?

Nationality or ethnic origin are considered to bring more advantages than disadvantages in people's daily lives. While around two-thirds of people believe that such characteristics bring advantages, two out of ten people believe that they are disadvantageous. Nationality is the characteristic that provides the most advantages, while religion is the one providing the least. With regard to disadvantages, skin colour and religion are least mentioned as obstacles.

Discrimination

To find out more about the issue of disadvantages or obstacles linked to people's affiliations, please go to the Discrimination page.

Method

Proportion of the population who consider the characteristics to be an advantage or disadvantage. See codebook mean_ident_xxx_adv and mean_ident_xxx_desadv questions.

Attachment to places

A sense of attachment to a place provides information about a person's identity.

Nine out of ten people say they are attached to Switzerland. Of all the places considered, this is the strongest attachment. Around seven out of ten people say they are attached to their canton, the place where they grew up or their commune or neighbourhood.

Around half of the population feels attached to their family's place of origin. Most of the places mentioned are in Switzerland, but towns and regions in Italy, Germany and Portugal are also mentioned often.

Method

Proportion of the population attached to places. See codebook questions mean_ftie_pl.

Socio-demographic profile

Attachment to places varies depending on people's socio-demographic profile. Compared with young people aged 15 to 24, people aged 65 and over have a greater attachment to both their neighbourhood, commune or canton and to Switzerland. Conversely, young people are more attached than older people to the place where they spent their childhood. Information on the groups most attached to the various locations is available at the bottom of the page in "Tables".

Further information

Tables

Sources

• Survey: Diversity and coexistence in Switzerland
• Modul: Discrimination and racism in Switzerland
• Year: 2023
• Sample: Permanent resident population aged 15 to 88
• Non-weighted numbers: 3152

Documentation on survey