Opinion on equal opportunities

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 2018, 71% of the resident population aged 16 and over agreed that foreign nationals living in Switzerland should have the same opportunities as Swiss nationals. 23% 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 (69%). The percentage of persons with a migration background was greater (75% for the first generation and 78% for the second or subsequent generations).

Between 2014 and 2018, statistical data indicated that the population of Switzerland without a migration background and the first generation were increasingly in favour of equality of opportunity between Swiss and foreign nationals living in Switzerland (respectively +7.5 and +5.3 percentage points). Conversely, fewer and fewer people in the population with no migration background and from the first generation said that Swiss nationals should have better opportunities than foreign nationals (-8.6 and -6.3 percentage points). For the second or subsequent generations, there were no significant developments; either in terms of the share of people in favour of equal opportunities or of that in favour of better opportunities for Swiss people.

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