Political opinion on equal opportunities

Full indicator name: quality of the relationship between different population groups: political opinion on equality of opportunity between Swiss and foreign nationals living in Switzerland

Relevance/Result

This indicator provides an observation of the degree of openness of different population groups towards equality of opportunity between foreign nationals living in Switzerland and Swiss nationals. Because integration is a mutual process, it is hard to achieve when the host society does not accept the equal treatment of the different groups in its population.

In Switzerland, in 2017, 70% of the resident population aged 16 and over agreed that foreign nationals living in Switzerland should have the same opportunities as Swiss nationals. 25% of the resident population aged 16 and over said that Swiss nationals should have better opportunities than foreign nationals. In the population without a migration background, the rate of persons who said they were for equality of opportunity was significantly lower (68%). The percentage of persons with a migration background was greater (75%).

Trends over time

Between 2014 and 2016, statistical data indicated that overall the population of Switzerland - with and without a migration background - was increasingly in favour of equality of opportunity between Swiss and foreign nationals living in Switzerland. Fewer and fewer people in Switzerland said that Swiss nationals should have better opportunities than foreign nationals. Between 2016 and 2017, the share of people without a migration background who said they were for equality of opportunities between Swiss and foreign nationals decreased however; that of the population with a migration background remained stable. During the same observation period, an increase in the share of people agreeing that Swiss nationals should have better opportunities than foreign nationals could be observed among the population without a migration background. Among the population with a migration background, the trend is not significant from a statistical point of view.

Major region

In Espace Mittelland, in Northwest, Eastern and Central Switzerland, the population with a migration background is significantly more in favour of an egalitarian Switzerland than the population with no migration background.

Definitions
Methodologies

From 2012 to 2014, the indicator was based on the following question: “Do you agree that foreign nationals should have the same opportunities as Swiss nationals or that Swiss nationals should have better opportunities? “. Only the results for the codes “1) equal opportunities” and “3) better opportunities for Swiss nationals” are shown.

Since 2015, the question has been formulated as follows: “Do you agree that foreign nationals living in Switzerland should have the same opportunities as Swiss nationals or that Swiss nationals should have better opportunities? “ (foreigners = foreigners living permanently in Switzerland (B or C permits). Only the results for the codes “1) equal opportunities” and “3) better opportunities for Swiss nationals” are shown.

Following changes to the survey framework and improvements in the weighting model, results from 2014 on can no longer be directly compared with those from previous years (series break).

You can access the indicators in one of the following ways

All indicators

Some 68 indicators describe the current situation and changes in the integration of the population with a migration background and/or of foreign nationals in Switzerland in eleven areas of life in our society.

Key indicators

34 key indicators provide an overview of the progress made on the journey towards integration and the state of integration of the population with a migration background. If this information is lacking, the population is shown by nationality, and where this variable is available, the country of birth.