Around 3000 gender entries changed since simplified procedure
Keystone-SDA
In 2025, 574 people in Switzerland had their gender entry changed in the civil status register, according to provisional data published on Thursday. Such a change has been possible in the Alpine country since 2022.
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The Federal Statistical Office said authorities made 312 gender-entry changes from “man” to “woman” in 2025. Conversely, 262 entries were changed from “woman” to “man”.
The greatest number of gender-entry changes took place in the canton of Zurich (120), whereas none recorded in the small eastern canton of Appenzell Inner Rhodes. According to the Statistical Office, more than half of the requests (56%) were made by people under the age of 25. Those under the age of 16 require the consent of their legal representative to request such a change.
The Swiss register of persons recognises the genders male and female. The entry is made at birth and is mandatory: that is, it must be made even if the gender cannot be clearly assigned. The federal government had spoken out against a third gender entry or the omission of such an entry in 2022.
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Every year, between 20-100 children are born in Switzerland whose biological sex cannot be clearly determined. The number of trans people living in Switzerland is not officially known. The organisation Transgender Network Switzerland points out estimates from abroad range between 26,400 and 740,000 people.
Cases are levelling off
Since January 1, 2022, applications for a change to the gender entry in the register of persons have been possible by filling out a declaration. This form must be submitted to the civil registry office. Before 2022, any gender-entry change had to be obtained through court proceedings.
The new practice is the final step in a long and painful process, Justice Minister Karin Keller-Sutter said in 2020.
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Most of the amendments were approved shortly after the new practice came into force: 1,117 gender entries in the register of persons were amended in 2022 and a total of 713 in 2023.
Since then, the number of annual changes has levelled off at around 600 cases per year, a spokesperson for the Statistical Office told the Keystone-SDA news agency. The proportion of people under age of 25 requesting the change has remained relatively stable over time.
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Translated from German with AI/gw
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