Zurich’s cantonal parliament has backed a proposal to ban headscarves in public schools and kindergartens, instructing the cantonal government to draft legislation, reported SRF. The motion, proposed by the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP), passed on Monday by 87 votes to 82, with six abstentions. It would prohibit female pupils and teachers from wearing religious head […]
Swiss court rules citizenship can be revoked despite statelessness risk
Revoking Swiss citizenship requires compelling grounds. Support for terrorism can provide them. Switzerland’s Federal Administrative Court has now upheld denaturalisation in an unusual case, reported SRF. The case concerns a 36-year-old man who was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina and became a naturalised Swiss citizen as a child. Five years ago a French court sentenced […]
Swiss government committee calls for an immigration tax on EU workers
A committee of Switzerland’s Council of States wants to introduce an immigration levy on workers from the European Union if migration rises sharply after the Bilateral Agreements III enter into force, reported RTS. Andrea Caroni, a member of the Council of States, says the measure could be used only after the Federal Council had successfully […]
Switzerland is attracting fewer immigrants—and losing more of those already here
Almost 40,000 foreign permanent residents left Switzerland in the first half of 2026, 4.3% more than in the same period last year. According to the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM), this is part of a broader trend: emigration by foreign residents has been rising since 2023. At the same time, immigration is slowing. In the […]
Swiss rail – squeezing more people onto ever busier trains
Switzerland’s railways are carrying more people than ever. In the second quarter of 2026 passengers travelled 6.3bn kilometres by train, an increase of 5.2% from a year earlier, reported Litra. That surpassed the previous record, set in the final quarter of 2025, by nearly 200m passenger-kilometres, the collective distance travelled by passengers. This is good […]
Geneva court suspends ban on full-cover swimwear
Long-sleeved swimwear may once again be worn in Geneva’s public swimming pools, at least temporarily, after a cantonal court suspended a ban introduced in May, reported various media. Geneva’s parliament, the Grand Council, approved the measure in March. It came into force on May 30 and prohibited swimwear covering both the arms and legs beyond […]
Childlessness and smaller families driving down fertility in Switzerland
Switzerland recorded fewer births and marriages in 2025, extending demographic trends that have become increasingly pronounced over the past decade. According to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), 78,200 children were born in Switzerland in 2025, around 100 fewer than a year earlier. Although the decline was marginal, it marked the fourth consecutive annual fall in […]
Swiss say no to a 10m population cap
Switzerland’s voters have rejected the right-wing Swiss People’s Party’s (UDC/SVP) latest attempt to curb immigration, dealing a blow to a campaign that sought to cap the country’s population at 10m by 2050. In a referendum held on Sunday, 54.8% of voters opposed the initiative, while a majority of cantons also rejected it (13 cantons against; […]
Switzerland to vote on its population
On June 14th Swiss voters will decide whether their country should place a ceiling on its population. The proposal, officially titled “No to a Switzerland with 10 million inhabitants!”, would cap the permanent resident population at 10m until 2050. If the number rises above 9.5m before then—a threshold demographers expect could be reached early in […]
Swiss canton to ban headscarfs in schools
Teachers in the Swiss canton of St Gallen will soon be barred from wearing religious symbols in the classroom, after the cantonal parliament approved a motion introducing a canton-wide ban, reported SRF. The proposal passed by 70 votes to 46 after a lengthy and emotionally charged debate. Lawmakers also voted narrowly, by 59 to 54, […]
