Facts and Figures
Information campaigns can reduce naturalisation barriers
Active information policy is an effective tool for removing existing information and access barriers. This promotes integration.
In autumn 2019, the City of Zurich informed foreigners with a completed residence deadline about the possibilities of naturalisation for the second time. A study carried out by the Immigration Policy Lab (IPL) on the effect of this information letter shows that it can reduce naturalisation barriers and thus increase the number of naturalisation applications. This strengthens political participation and promotes economic integration. Studies show that naturalisation has a positive effect on the economic participation of naturalised persons.
Facts and figures about the population of Zurich
On behalf of the Foreigners' Advisory Council (ABR), the Promotion of Integration has developed a dossier with facts and figures on the population of The City of Zurich. The underlying data were prepared by Statistics City of Zurich. The dossier contains various information on the foreign resident population.
PDF Facts and figures on the population of Zurich (December 2020)
Zurich's religious landscape
By 1850, more than ninety percent of Zurich's resident population was Protestant Reformed. This is no longer the case: Today, non-denominational and Roman Catholics are more often represented than Protestant Reformed.
On 29 January 2019 , an accompanying event to the exhibition "Shadows of the Reformation" in the Stadthaus was dedicated to religions and denominations in the city of Zurich. After a presentation of the analysis of Statistics City of Zurich, published on the same day, government councillor Jacqueline Fehr and Grossmünster pastor Christoph Sigrist, under the direction of Christof Meier, discussed zurich's religious landscape in 2019.
Factsheet on main languages and religion
Every year, at least 200,000 people in Switzerland are asked by the Federal Statistical Office to complete a questionnaire for the census. The present presentations summarize developments from the years 2010 to 2018 in the areas of main languages and religions in the city of Zurich.
Factsheets Immigration
Immigration: Every tenth foreign person comes to Zurich
International migration takes place mainly between cities. The city of Zurich is of central importance as an entry portal for immigrant foreign persons. Almost one in five foreign people who migrate to Switzerland from abroad moves to the canton of Zurich – more than half of them to the city of Zurich. Every tenth foreign person who immigrates to Switzerland comes to the city of Zurich. These figures differ depending on nationality.
Data on immigration in family reunification to the city of Zurich 2013
Evaluations of the cantonal data on family reunification have shown that in 2013 one third of all immigrants from abroad to the Canton of Zurich took place in family reunification (46% for women and 22% for men). For the city, assuming that the percentage cantonal shares can be transferred to the city, there are a total of 2,723 women and 1,638 men in family reunification.
Multiple Migration Factsheet
Recent data confirm that almost one in three people with Spanish nationality who
moved from Spain to the city of Zurich, was not born in Spain, but for example in the Dominican Republic or Ecuador. The evaluations are based on the stock as of 31.12.2013.
Analysis: How does Zurich speak?
The city of Zurich is diverse: people from 170 different nations currently live here. Foreigners make up 32 percent of the resident population. Eight out of ten foreigners come from Europe. Germans (25% of the foreign resident population), Italians (11%) and Portuguese (6%) are the most strongly represented. Other nationalities occur much less frequently; for example, 43 nations are represented in the city of Zurich, each with less than ten people per state.
How does this internationalization affect linguistic diversity? Which languages are spoken in Zurich in which context? The publication "How does Zurich speak?" examines both the languages used in the working environment and at home.