In 2018, the Federal Statistical Office assumed responsibility for the production of the Statistics on the Swiss Abroad, which had until then been compiled by the FDFA. The statistics are available on the webpages of the FSO and can be accessed easily and individually via an interactive table.

Figures

Around 11% of the Swiss population lives abroad. Of the 770,900 Swiss nationals who were residing abroad at the end of 2019, more than 63% were living in Europe.

Retiring abroad

At the end of 2019, 21.2% of Swiss citizens abroad were minors, i.e. under the age of 18 (163 800 persons). The share of older persons (65 years and over) was slightly bigger, i.e. 21.8% or 167 800 persons. The number of persons of working age (18-64 years) was 439 300 (57.0%).

The most popular destination: France

France has the largest Swiss expatriate community in Europe, followed by Germany and Italy. 

The Federal Statistical Office website provides further information, graphics and an interactive table: 

Swiss abroad in 2019 (Federal Statistical Office)

Swiss citizens abroad Europe 2019

Swiss citizens abroad Europe 2019 (PDF, 3.9 MB, multilingual: Italian, English)

Swiss citizens abroad World 2019

Swiss citizens abroad World 2019 (PDF, 2.5 MB, multilingual: English, Italian)

Interactive map – Swiss abroad by country of residence 2019

The map shows the number of Swiss abroad and the number of Swiss emigrants for a specific country.

Swiss abroad by country of residence, 2019 (Federal Statistical Office)