National language as main language

Relevance/Result

This indicator shows the proportion of people from different population groups who have one of the national languages as (one of) their main language(s). A good command of one of Switzerland’s national languages can be seen as both, an essential requirement for and the result of successful integration.

Between 2017 and 2019, in the population without a migration background, and in the population with a migration background from the second or subsequent generations aged 15 and over, the share of people who had a national language as (one of) their main language(s) was close to 100%. In the first generation, the rate is close to 70%.

Canton

In all cantons, the rate of people with a national language as main language(s) is higher in the population without a migration background than in that with a migration background. The largest difference is in Zug (difference of 36 percentage points), the smallest in Ticino (difference of 11 percentage points).

Definitions

This indicator gives the proportion of the permanent resident population aged 15 and over that has at least one national language (German, French, Italian or Romansh) as main language.

It is based on the following question from the structural survey:
“What is your main language, i.e. the language in which you think and which you know best?“. Possible answers were: German (or Swiss-German), French (or French patois), Italian (or Ticino or Italo/Graubünden dialect), Romansh, Serbian/Croatian, Albanian, Portuguese, Spanish, English, other language(s). Up to three languages were taken into consideration.

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.