During 2020, 10.3% of Switzerland’s population moved. The average distance moved was 12.5 km. However, the likelihood of movement and the distance moved varied significantly by age and nationality.
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People in the age band between 20 and 40 were the most likely to move. There was also a small bump in numbers between the ages of 62 and 65. Roughly 27% of 25 year olds moved in 2020, compared to only 2% of 94 year olds.
The most mobile canton was Basel-City. 12.1% of the population there moved house in 2020. The least mobile was Uri where only 8.2% of the population moved. Other high-movement cantons were Neuchâtel (11.4%), Vaud (11.3%) and Zurich (10.9%). In Geneva the rate was 9.9%.
Moving abroad
Overall, 1,1% of Switzerland’s population moved to another country in 2020. The most mobile nationality was the British. 5.7% of British residents left Switzerland in 2020. Other high departure nationalities include French (4.7%), Portuguese (3.8%), German (3.6%) and Austrian (3.6%). Swiss citizens departed at a rate of 0.4%.
The age groups most likely to move to another country in 2020 were 26-25 year olds (1.9%), 18-25 year olds (1.5%), 36-45 year olds (1.3%), 0-5 year olds (1.2%) and 56-65 year olds (1.0%). Past 80 (0.3%) and between 6 and 17 (0.7%) it was unusual to move.
Cantons with the highest rates of international departures were Geneva (1.9%), Basel-City (1.7%), Vaud (1.6%), Zug (1.4%), Ticino (1.3%) and Zurich (1.2%).
Cantons with highest rates of international arrivals were Zurich (2.4%), Vaud (1.4%), Geneva (1.0%) and Bern (0.8%). The cantons with the lowest percentages of new arrivals from abroad were Uri (0.02%), Nidwalden (0.03%) and Jura (0.05%).
Among cantons with high international migration, net migration ranged from +1.3% to -1.2%. Zurich (+1.3%) was the only one of these cantons with net inward flow from abroad. Vaud (-0.2%), Valais (-0.8%), Geneva (-0.9%), Ticino (-0.9%), Neuchâtel (-1.0%), Zug (-1.2%) and Basel-City (-1.2%) all saw net international outflows over the year.
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Lila says
What pointless and poor journalism. The number 1.2% or 0.8% hardly mean anything.. unless we also look at preCovid data
Le News says
Thank you for your comment. There are only small differences between 2019 and 2020, but in general net international migration out of Switzerland slowed in 2020 compared to 2019. Net international migration for Zurich was 1.3% in 2019 compared to 1.2% in 2020. For the other cantons mentioned the same figures are (2019 vs 2020): Zug (-1.5% vs -1.2%), Basel-City (-1.6% vs -1.2%), Ticino (-1.1% vs -0.9%), Vaud (-0.6% vs -0.2%), Valais (-1.0%, -0.8%), Neuchâtel (-1.1% vs -1.0%) and Geneva (-1.3% vs -0.9).