Mixed marriages

The number of binational marriages shows to what extent migrants and their descendants marry people from the Swiss population. Such marriages are an indicator of assimilation rather than of integration and also of cultural acceptance and the openness of society to immigrants.

This indicator shows the share of people living in a mixed marriage (i.e. marriage between a Swiss national and a foreign national) and respectively the proportion of mixed marriages among the matrimonial celebrations in a year.

In Switzerland, from 2017 to 2019, the rate of married persons living in a mixed marriage was 10%. Around 6% of Swiss nationals born in Switzerland were married to a foreign national. The rate was more than twice as high among Swiss nationals born abroad (13%). The gap was smaller between Swiss and foreign nationals born abroad (13% compared with 19%) than between Swiss and foreign nationals born in Switzerland (6% compared with 18%).

The proportion of married persons in a mixed marriage varies by canton. Cantons with mixed marriage rates higher than the national average are Zurich, Basel-Stadt, Schaffhausen, Ticino, Vaud and Geneva (maximum rate of 15%). In contrast, the cantons of Uri and Appenzell Innerrhoden have the lowest mixed marriage rates (less than 5%).

These differences can be explained by the different proportions of foreign nationals living in these cantons: Geneva, Basel-Stadt but also Ticino have the largest share of foreign nationals, whereas the cantons of Uri and Appenzell Innerrhoden have the smallest shares.

34% of all marriages in 2020 were mixed marriages. Swiss nationals born abroad married a foreign national more than twice as often as Swiss nationals born in Switzerland did (51% compared with 22%). More than half of foreign nationals’ marriages, regardless of whether they were born abroad or in Switzerland, were to a Swiss national (between 53% and 55%).

The rate of marriages in 2020 between people of different nationalities varied by canton. Whereas the national average was 34%, in the cantons of Basel-Stadt, Ticino, Vaud and Geneva, the rates were higher than 40%. The canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden had the lowest rate at 15%. This was followed by Uri and Obwalden with rates equal or lower than 20%. These differences are in line with the different proportions of foreign nationals living in these cantons.