Politics The image of foreigners in Switzerland has deteriorated
Foreigners have a bad influence on the Swiss education system and make the streets less safe. More and more Swiss people believe this, as figures from the Federal Statistical Office over the past three years show.
11.03.2025, 15:55
SDA
Between 2022 and 2024, the proportion of the Swiss population who rated the impact of foreigners on school education as negative rose by 7 percentage points, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) wrote on Tuesday.
In the area of safety, the proportion of those who believe that foreigners make the roads in Switzerland unsafe rose by 6 percentage points to almost 30 percent. The issue of the misuse of social benefits also divides the population more strongly.
In general, however, the population is open to people from abroad living in Switzerland and sees positive effects of their presence in the country, according to the report. After all, more than 70 percent do not think that foreigners create a feeling of insecurity on the street, that they are responsible for an increase in unemployment or that foreign children hinder the education of Swiss children.
According to the survey by the Federal Statistical Office, around 60 percent of the population is in favor of granting more rights to foreigners living in Switzerland, particularly with regard to family reunification.
However, only half of those surveyed are in favor of political participation by foreign nationals in Switzerland. Between 2022 and 2024, the proportion in favor of such rights for foreigners fell by almost 5 percentage points for all questions surveyed.
