Composition of the foreign population

The permanent foreign resident population is the reference population in population statistics.  The majority of foreigners residing permanently in Switzerland are European and mainly come from EU/EFTA member states.

Permanent foreign resident population by nationality (at end of year, in thousand)

	2020	2021	2022
Total	2 210.8	2 244.2	2 296.0
EU/EFTA	1 418.4	1 441.2	1 478.6
Germany	309.5	311.3	316.0
France	145.5	151.0	157.0
Italy	325.3	328.3	332.7
Austria	44.3	44.9	46.0
Portugal	257.7	255.2	253.6
Spain	86.2	88.4	91.4
Rest of Europe	413.6	413.8	414.8
Kosovo	113.7	114.8	115.3
North Macedonia	67.7	68.6	69.2
Türkiye	68.0	68.8	70.3
Africa	113.6	116.2	118.9
The Americas	83.6	85.7	88.0
Asia	175.0	180.8	189.1
Oceania	4.2	4.1	4.3
Stateless, nationality unknown	2.5	2.4	2.4

Source: FSO – STATPOP

Italian, German, Portuguese and French nationals comprise the majority of foreigners from an EU/EFTA member state, as well as of all foreigners residing permanently in Switzerland.

Permanent foreign resident population by residence permit

The majority of foreign nationals living permanently in Switzerland have a settlement or residence permit (permits C and B). The other permits are less common.

Information on the different residence permits can be obtained from the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), in their statistics on foreigners.

Persons in the asylum process and asylum requests

Persons in the asylum process are either asylum seekers (permit N) or provisionally admitted persons (permit F). Asylum seekers are granted authorisation to stay in Switzerland until the end of the asylum process.  If their request is approved and their refugee status is recognised, they are given a residence permit (permit B). If refugee status is not granted but deportation of the person would be unlawful, unenforceable or impossible, the person is usually admitted to Switzerland provisionally (permit F).

Depending on the length of their stay in Switzerland, such persons are included in either the permanent foreign resident population (at least 12 months residence in Switzerland) or in the non-permanent population (less than 12 months residence in Switzerland).

All the relevant information can be obtained from the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), in their asylum statistics.

Further information

Data