African immigrants to Switzerland

Edit links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
African immigrants to Switzerland
Total population
73,553 (foreigners)
Languages
Indigenous religions

African immigrants to Switzerland include Swiss residents, both Swiss citizens and foreign nationals, who have migrated to Switzerland from Africa. The number has quintupled over the period of 1980 to 2007, with an average growth rate of 6% per annum (doubling time 12 years). According to official Swiss population statistics, 73,553 foreigners with African nationality lived in Switzerland as of 2009 (0.9% of total population, or 4.3% of resident foreigners — this data excludes immigrants with African ancestry coming from other parts of the world: Dominican Republic, Brazil, United States, Cuba etc.).[1] Since the census records nationality, not ethnic origin, there is no official estimate of the number of naturalized Swiss citizens from Africa.

Demographics

Of the 73,553 African nationals recorded in 2007, 78% were considered permanent residents in Switzerland (including recognized

asylum seekers.[2]

Permanent residents with African nationalities, organized by region of origin:

year 1980 1990 2000 2009
North Africa 6,205 10,905 15,469 20,415
East Africa 1,597 3,137 7,111 12,636
Central Africa 860 3,044 7,409 11,976
West Africa 1,390 2,601 6,488 10,842
Southern Africa 487 604 1,141 1,835
total 10,539 20,291 37,618 57,704

The largest group of residents of North African origin are from Tunisia.[3] The above-average increase of residents from

Congo (Brazzaville)
. Unofficial estimates exist for a number of African nations. For example, an estimated 1,500 people of Cape Verdean descent lived in Switzerland as of 1995.[4]

Republic of Congo.[5][6]

Asylum seekers

A third of Africans residing in Switzerland are

sans papiers
after they were refused asylum.

There was a steep surge of asylum requests from

criminals abusing the asylum system, entering Switzerland with the intention of pursuing petty crime and drug dealing.[7] The Nigerian ambassador to Switzerland, Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi, objected to du Boi-Reymond's statement as an undue generalization.[8]

The question of

Nigerian organized crime on a nationwide scale. Switzerland has several repatriation agreements with African states, with Algeria since 2006, which has however been stalled due to a refusal to ratify additional protocols on the part of Algeria.[citation needed
]

Switzerland has signed a technical agreement on re-admittance in the case of

Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea and Sierra Leone.[9] There is also a repatriation agreement with Nigeria, but this was suspended by Nigeria following the death of a Nigerian citizen during forced repatriation in March 2010.[10]

Notable people

Notable Swiss people of African origin are found mostly in sports, especially football, e.g.

Ugor Nganga, Blaise Nkufo, Cédric Tsimba, Johan Djourou, Owusu Benson, Richmond Rak, Kim Jaggy, Breel Embolo, and Manuel Akanji. The only Swiss basketball players to ever to play in the NBA include Clint Capela and Thabo Sefolosha
, who are both of African descent. In music notable persons include Negatif, Dezmond Dez, M.A.M, Dynamike, Mark Sway, Fabienne Louve.[citation needed]

Swiss National Council (2007 Swiss federal election).[11]

See also

References

  1. KiB), Swiss Federal Statistical Office, page 72. Wohnbevölkerung nach Geschlecht und detaillierter Staatsangehörigkeit Archived 2012-10-16 at the Wayback Machine, Federal Statistical Office Archived 2011-06-12 at the Wayback Machine
    .
  2. ^ A total of 30% had residence status N (asylum seeker) or F (refugee) as of 2007. Federal Office of Statistics Archived 2012-10-15 at the Wayback Machine, p. 14.
  3. ^ "Federal Office of Statistics". Archived from the original on 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2010-06-17.
  4. ^ 1995 Cape Verdean Diaspora Population Estimates Archived 2009-08-29 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Michael Meier (2014-12-23). "Sie wollen uns den Glauben zurückbringen" (in German). Tages-Anzeiger. Retrieved 2014-12-25.
  6. ^ Matthias Scharrer (2014-11-14). "Dinah Hess: "Alle haben ihre Eigenarten –aber alles gehört zusammen"" (in German). Limmattaler Zeitung. Retrieved 2014-12-25.
  7. ^ Task-Force gegen Asylmissbrauch Archived 2011-07-23 at the Wayback Machine 11 April 2010.
  8. NZZ
    29 April 2010.
  9. ^ Refugee repatriation debate rears its head swissinfo.ch 4 March 2010.
  10. ^ Nigeria setzt Ausschaffung faktisch ausser Kraft 16 April 2010.
  11. ISSN 0376-6829
    . Retrieved 2024-01-25.

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=African_immigrants_to_Switzerland&oldid=1207695287"