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.

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