A quarter in Switzerland speak a non-national language at home

Tuesday, 10 March 2026 06:30

One in four people in Switzerland now speaks a non-national language as their main language.

New figures from the Federal Statistics Office show the share reached 25 percent in 2024, up from 19 percent in 2010.

After German, French and Italian, the most common languages are English at 6 percent, followed by Albanian and Portuguese at around 3 percent each.

English is particularly widespread in major cities, with about 15 percent of residents in Geneva and Zurich using it as their main language.

The study also shows English playing a growing role at work and in higher education.

More from Bitesize News

Geneva could foot the G7 bill

Geneva fears it will be left with the security bill from a G7 summit just across the border in Évian, according to 24 heures.
US NGO discovers Swiss child abuse cases

Switzerland relies too heavily on an American NGO to detect child sexual abuse online, raising questions about the country's ability to protect children on its own.
French singer banned by Paleo

The Paléo Festival in Nyon says it will no longer invite French singer Patrick Bruel, after a former volunteer accused him of inappropriate behaviour.
Cars going uninspected

The cantons are struggling to keep up with mandatory vehicle inspections, leaving more than 550,000 checks overdue nationwide.
War may lead to rent rises

Rents may rise again, says the bank Raiffeisen.
Not a heatwave, yet

Summer has arrived, with temperatures climbing past 30 over the long weekend. Basel reached 31 and Sion hit 32.4, but MeteoSwiss, says this does not yet count as an official heatwave.