Crude rate of naturalisation

Relevance/Result

Recommended by the EU, this is an important indicator of the extent to which the population can participate in political life. Naturalisation is an expression of a person’s successful integration as a citizen. A person who has acquired Swiss nationality has all civil rights and every possibility to participate in political life. Furthermore, the gross naturalisation rate is also an indicator for people’s willingness to integrate: naturalisation assumes that the person identifies to a certain extent with and is attached to the host country. This indicator is also an expression of the host country’s practice regards integration.

Note: On the German and French version of this page, the tables have been updated with the latest data. Graphs and texts will be updated shortly.

In Switzerland, the gross naturalisation rate of residence or settlement permit holders is 2% in 2020. The rate is almost three times as high for people born in Switzerland than for those born abroad (3% compared with 1%).

Trends over time

Since 2011, the gross naturalisation rate of B or C permit holders has slightly decreased (-0.5 percentage point). This decrease can be seen among both, people born in Switzerland (-0.2 percentage point) and people born abroad (-0.5 percentage point).

Canton

In the majority of cantons, the gross naturalisation rate of foreigners born abroad ranges from 1% to 2%. The cantons of Glarus and Freiburg show the lowest rates. Conversely, with rates close to 2%, persons who were born abroad residing in the cantons of Zurich and Neuchatel have the highest naturalisation rates.

There is a wider range in results for the foreign population born in Switzerland. The cantons of Zurich, Bern, Ticino, Vaud and Neuchatel lead the way with rates of 5% or more. In contrast, with rates close to 1%, compared with the national value of 3%, the cantons of Glarus and Appenzell Innerrhoden have the lowest rates.

Definitions

This indicator shows the ratio between the number of naturalisations recorded in a civil year and the number of residence and settlement permit holders at the beginning of the same civil year. It is calculated by dividing the number of persons who obtain naturalisation in year X by the number of residence and settlement permit holders on 1.1. of year X. However, this indicator provides no information on the number of rejected naturalisation applications.

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.