Where do the 9 million Swiss live?

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The two faces of Switzerland are increasingly diverging, while the population is increasing. The cantons of Basel-City and especially Geneva today display record densities, over 3,000 people on land measuring 0.1 km2.

The further one moves away from a densely populated plateau, the more the map becomes deserted as the altitude rises. The mountainous regions, from Valais to Graubünden via central Switzerland, present immense swathes of uninhabited, even uninhabitable, land.

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Swiss population: inhabitants per 0.1 km2.

Tybalt Felix

Population almost tripled in certain municipalities

Some of these steep areas even tend to become depopulated. In Valais, in the north of Ticino, in the cantons of Uri and Graubünden, municipalities have lost inhabitants over the last 30 years.

A reality very different from that encountered in the majority of the country. On average, the population of municipalities increased by 33%. In other words, for every three people living in the locality in 1993, there are now four.

In some cases, population growth goes well beyond that. In Montet (FR), Gletterens (FR) or Chavannes-des-Bois (VD), the number of residents has tripled in three decades.

West Lausanne is becoming more dense

In western Lausanne too, towns and villages have experienced a real transformation. On the outskirts of Lausanne, the region saw a 40% increase in inhabitants. Saint-Sulpice has almost twice as many citizens as in 1993. A phenomenon that is not without certain challenges.

“We took advantage of the potential of industrial wastelands. These are sectors which were in the building zone, already buildable but no longer used for industrial activity, which gradually disappeared, especially at the end of the 90s and the beginning of the 2000s. And today this potential is is reused to create new neighborhoods,” explains Benoît Biéler, director of Strategy and Development for West Lausanne (SDOL) in the 7:30 p.m.

The explanations in the 7:30 p.m. of RTS:

Demographic pressure

Internal migration illustrates the pressure on infrastructure and housing. Geneva, where density reaches peaks, has lost more than 20,000 people in these exchanges with other cantons over the past 10 years. The situation is similar in Basel-City. Conversely, Friborg absorbed 14,000 more arrivals than departures regarding travel within Switzerland.

The analysis of Mathias Lerch, director of the urban demography laboratory at EPFL:

More surprisingly, Vaud also shows a negative balance despite the addition of 12,535 Genevans. Many residents of the canton have also gone into exile, mainly to Friborg (+12,804) and Valais (+9,029).

Also see:

Demographic growth remains strong in Switzerland, particularly in the Lake Geneva region. Explanations:

The good health of the Swiss economy impacts demographic growth:

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