In an upcoming national referendum, voters will decide whether to drastically limit the influx of foreigners into Switzerland. Doing so would increase how fast the country is aging.
The highly contentious ‘No to 10 million’ initiative, spearheaded by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), suggests that as Switzerland’s population approaches the 10-million mark due to immigration, pressure on the country’s key infrastructure such as housing, health system, public transport, and schools, will become unsustainable.
However, this is only one side of the story.
Aside from proven benefits of the foreign population on Switzerland’s labour market and economy in general, immigrants also rejuvenate the country’s aging population.
According to data from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), foreigners really do slow down the country’s aging process.
An aging country
Switzerland’s birth rate has been falling steadily for years.
READ MORE: Why is Switzerland’s birthrate at its lowest ever, and what will the impact be?
Combine this fact with the country’s life expectancy – among the world’s highest – and you get the picture: Switzerland faces the prospect of having significantly fewer working-age people and more retirees.
This means that Switzerland is facing a shrinking workforce, causing labour shortages that will be even more dire in the coming years.
READ MORE: Why is Switzerland’s chronic labour shortage worsening?
As a result of this development, future generations can expect economic stagnation.
But that’s not all: fewer people working also means lower tax revenue and less money flowing into pension funds.
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What would Switzerland look like without immigration?
If the SVP’s proposal is approved by voters on June 14th, and no new immigrants from the European Union would be allowed to work in Switzerland, the country’s population would no longer grow.
This is exactly what the SVP is trying to achieve.
At the same time, however, the population’s age structure would be profoundly altered – and not for the better.
That’s because immigrants are largely of working age and in general younger than the native population.
As an example, the average age of Swiss nationals today is 44.5 years. For foreigners living in Switzerland, it is 37.5 years.
Overall, among Swiss nationals, the share of people of working age stands at 56 percent, according to the FSO.
Among foreigners living in Switzerland, on the other hand, this figure reaches nearly 72 percent.
At the same time, the proportion of seniors is significantly higher within the Swiss population: nearly 24 percent of Swiss nationals have reached retirement age, compared to just eight percent of foreigners.
