Brief Review

Population & Demographics

The population of Switzerland is increasing at a very slow rate, due mainly to the low birth rate and the tendency to delay starting a family. The birth rate is not expected to increase significantly at any time in the near future.

Births

• 2004: 73,082
• 2005: 72,903
• 2006: 73,371

According to the Swiss Federal Statistics Office publication Statistical Data on Switzerland 2008, in 2000 nearly three-quarters of the population live as couples, 48% with children, 24% without, 6% live in single-parent households. The traditional family – parents with children – still dominates in the 35 to 49 age group (58% compared to 2% of unmarried couples with children). Also, only a minority of childless adults live alone: 28% of 21 to 34 year olds, and 37% of 35 to 49 year olds. As a general tendency, starting a family is increasingly postponed due to women wanting to establish their careers and both parents wanting to be more financially secure. Only every fifth woman (21%) born between the years 1965 and 1969 has had a child before the age of 25. In the case of those women born between 1945 and 1949, it was 44%. The mean age of women’s first childbirth is 30.4 years. The average Swiss woman has 1.44 children, slightly lower than the European average of 1.5. Young adults are staying longer at home with their parents (23% of men born between 1970 and 1974 left home before they were twenty years old, compared with 45% of those born during 1945 and 49).

Switzerland, like most western countries, is experiencing a “greying” of the population, as people are living longer and birth rates are not at replacement levels. The majority of the population is aged 40 to 64 (35.1%), with the 0 to 19 age range being the lowest of all demographics (21.7%), except for those over age 64 (16.2%).