Home to 9 million people Swiss population becoming more urban, greener - and fewer?

With the population rising to over nine million, Switzerland continues to grow. While cities and agglomerations are booming, one demographer warns of falling employment figures in some regions.

At the end of June this year, the number of people living in Switzerland exceeded nine million for the first time. According to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), 9,002,763 people were resident in the country at the end of June. An impressive figure that highlights the country's rapid growth - especially in urban areas.

Around 27% of them have a foreign passport: after Italians, Germans are the second-largest group with 323,600 (as at the end of 2023).

But what does the future of Swiss cities look like? "A good three quarters of the Swiss population live in urban areas," futurologist Martina Kühne explains to SRF.

Switzerland is becoming more urban

While the city of Zurich is growing particularly strongly, the agglomeration is also booming. Even though some people have moved to the countryside during the pandemic, the biggest population growth is still taking place in cities and agglomerations.

Kühne predicts a Switzerland in which not only the big cities, but also smaller towns and agglomerations will play a decisive role.

"Switzerland as a whole will probably become more urban and more urbane - with many attractive small towns. These have good schools and restaurants or a wide range of leisure activities, but also offer quick access to forests, lakes or other green spaces," she says.

Balance between densification and green spaces

Foreign professionals in particular are increasingly moving to urban areas. Kühne does not believe that life in the city is losing its appeal. "Cities have never actually lost their appeal. Although they are growing and getting bigger, Swiss cities remain comparatively manageable," she says.

In fact, urbanization remains an ongoing trend, as Swiss cities are still very attractive due to their structure and quality of life. Despite the rising population figures, they retain a certain manageability - a decisive advantage over megacities in other parts of the world.

A key question in rapidly growing cities is how the balance between densification and green spaces can be maintained. For years, there have been calls for cities to be made greener, with more trees and parks.

Conflicts of use in fast-growing cities

The vote in Zurich this weekend demonstrated this: The accepted counter-proposal to the "Good Air Initiative" demands that the city convert 145,000 square meters of road into green spaces and areas for trees over the next ten years.

The people of Zurich also said yes to the city converting 462,000 square meters of road for environmentally friendly transportation over the next ten years. But how much space is there left in expanding metropolitan areas?

Mark crackedSwitzerland now has over nine million inhabitants

"Conflicts of use between living space, green spaces and traffic routes do indeed arise in rapidly growing cities," says Kühne. However, she emphasizes that clever solutions exist to combine dense construction with sufficient green spaces.

Agglomeration offers affordable living space

In fact, Swiss cities are considered relatively green by international standards, which makes them even more attractive. It is a question of planning and balancing how future areas are used. And: proximity to nature is a decisive factor in Swiss cities that mitigates the negative effects of city life.

Kühne describes the agglomeration as "one of the most interesting areas", as it combines affordable living space with quick access to nature and urban centers.

Meanwhile, immigration is a thorn in the side of the SVP. It has submitted a popular initiative entitled "No ten million Swiss!" and is calling for the permanent resident population not to exceed ten million before 2050. The initiative will be put to a referendum, but no date has yet been set.

Demographer: immigration is not the main issue

Meanwhile, demographer Hendrik Budliger warns of major, often overlooked problems in Switzerland in an interview with the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper. Although the country is growing faster than predicted, he does not see immigration as the main issue.

In fact, the number of people of working age is already falling in some regions, which could have considerable economic and social consequences. Budliger emphasizes that previous population forecasts have misjudged net immigration.

Number of people of working age is falling

Despite the current growth, he does not believe that Switzerland will reach the ten million population mark. The reason for this is the demographic change in Europe: the working population is shrinking and other countries will increasingly try to retain or regain their workforce.

He points out that Switzerland will have to compete for immigrants in the future and cannot rest on its high wage levels and quality of life. Falling birth rates and an ageing society could lead to economic challenges such as lower consumption, falling tax revenues and a decline in demand for real estate.

Despite possible advantages such as less overpopulation and a lower environmental impact, Budliger sees demographic change as one of the biggest future challenges for Switzerland. He calls for more attention to be paid to this issue in the political debate.

dpa