Swiss people

Swiss people
Schweizer / Suisses / Svizzeri / Svizzers
Flag of Switzerland, a federal symbol used to represent all Swiss citizens
Official photo of the Federal Council (2008), idealized depiction of a multi-ethnic Swiss society.
Total population
c. 11–12 million (2023)[a]
Regions with significant populations
 Switzerland 8.9 million (2023)[1]
Swiss abroad
0.8 million (2023)[2]
Swiss ancestry
c. 1.5 million[3]
 France209,287
 Germany99,582
 United States83,667
 Italy51,964
 Canada41,463
 United Kingdom40,183
 Spain26,499
 Australia26,374
 Israel23,670
 Austria18,350
 Argentina15,120
 Brazil13,611
 Thailand10,414
 Netherlands10,195
 Belgium8,651
 South Africa7,743
 New Zealand7,345
 Portugal6,916
 Sweden6,601
 Chile5,730
 Turkey5,405
 Mexico5,289
 Liechtenstein4,878
 Denmark3,720
 Philippines3,615
 United Arab Emirates3,452
 Serbia3,446
 Greece3,048
 Norway2,956
 Peru2,884
 China2,564
 Colombia2,348
 Hungary2,229
 Japan1,306[4]
Languages
Swiss German, Swiss Standard German, Bolze
Swiss French, Frainc-Comtou, Franco-Provençal
Swiss Italian, Lombard
Romansh
Swiss-German Sign, Swiss-Italian Sign, Swiss-French Sign
Religion
Catholicism, Swiss Reformed, atheism[5]
Related ethnic groups
Romansh people, Liechtensteiners, Germans, Austrians, French, Italians and Celts

The Swiss people (German: die Schweizer, French: les Suisses, Italian: gli Svizzeri, Romansh: ils Svizzers) are the citizens of the multi-ethnic Swiss Confederation (Switzerland) regardless of ethno-cultural background[b] or people of self-identified Swiss ancestry.

The number of Swiss nationals has grown from 1.7 million in 1815 to 8.7 million in 2020. More than 1.5 million Swiss citizens hold multiple citizenship.[6] About 11% of citizens live abroad (0.8 million, of whom 0.6 million hold multiple citizenship). About 60% of those living abroad reside in the European Union (0.46 million). The largest groups of Swiss descendants and nationals outside Europe are found in the United States, Brazil and Canada.

Although the modern state of Switzerland originated in 1848, the period of romantic nationalism, it is not a nation-state, and the Swiss are not a single ethnic group, but rather are a confederacy (Eidgenossenschaft) or Willensnation ("nation of will", "nation by choice", that is, a consociational state), a term coined in conscious contrast to "nation" in the conventionally linguistic or ethnic sense of the term.

The demonym Swiss (formerly in English also called Switzer) and the name of Switzerland, ultimately derive from the toponym Schwyz, have been in widespread use to refer to the Old Swiss Confederacy since the 16th century.[7]


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  1. ^ "Bestand und Entwicklung der Bevölkerung der Schweiz im Jahr 2023: Definitive Ergebnisse" [Recent monthly and quarterly figures: provisional data] (XLS) (official statistics) (in German, French, and Italian). Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), Swiss Confederation. 31 December 2023. 1155-1500. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Swiss citizens living abroad by country of residence, 1993-2023 Bundesamt für statistik" (in German). Retrieved 13 September 2024.: total: 813k, single citizenship: 205k. Geographical distribution: Europe: 520k (France: 209k, Germany: 99k, Italy 52k); Americas: 185k (USA 83k, Canada 41k); Oceania 81k; Asia: 56k; Africa: 18k.
  3. ^ Swiss Americans: 917k ±20k (Results – Community Survey 2013 Archived 2020-02-12 at archive.today, includes 80k Swiss citizens with residence in the US) Swiss Canadian: 147k (26k "single ethnic", 121k "multi-ethnic" responses; includes 40k Swiss citizens with residence in Canada) ("Ethnic Origin, 2011 National Household Survey". Statistics Canada. 8 May 2013. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2013.) Swiss Argentine: 300k (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto de la República Argentina. "La emigración suiza a la Argentina (Swiss emigration to Argentina)" (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2014.). Swiss Chilean: 100k (actual supera los 100.000 ciudadanos, la mayor de América Latina" Archived 2014-10-16 at the Wayback Machine) Swiss Brazilian: 80k (História, Ciências, Saúde-Manguinhos - From Nova Friburgo to Fribourg in writing: Swiss colonization seen by the immigrants Archived 7 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Swiss Australian: 12k by birth, 29k by ancestry (2011 census).
  4. ^ "在留外国人統計" (in Japanese). 15 December 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2024.
  5. ^ Ständige Wohnbevölkerung ab 15 Jahren nach Religionszugehörigkeit Archived 18 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Swiss Central Statistical Office 2015 Report. N.b.: the report contains data of the statistical analyses of the years 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.
  6. ^ 916k out of 5,293k of permanent residents of Switzerland aged 15 and over ("Ständige Wohnbevölkerung ab 15 Jahren nach doppelter Staatszugehörigkeit (2016)" (in German). Archived from the original on 11 November 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.) plus 570k out of 775k Swiss abroad ("Auslandschweizerstatistik 2016" (PDF) (in German). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2018.).
  7. ^ "Schwyz". New Oxford American Dictionary.