Swiss people

Parts of this article (those related to Swiss abroad in infobox) need to be updated. The reason given is: Source Auslandschweizerstatistik is from 2016, besides there seems to be some vandalism in the infobox since several figures don't match. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (February 2024)

Swiss people
Schweizer / Suisses / Svizzeri / Svizzers

Swiss Reformed, atheism[4]
Related ethnic groups
Romansh people, Liechtensteiners, Germans, Austrians, French, Italians and Celts

The Swiss people (German: die Schweizer, French: les Suisses, Italian: gli Svizzeri, Romansh: ils Svizzers) are the citizens of the multi-ethnic Swiss Confederation (Switzerland) regardless of ethno-cultural background^[b] or people of self-identified Swiss ancestry.

The number of

.

Although the

" in the conventionally linguistic or ethnic sense of the term.

The demonym Swiss (formerly in English also called Switzer) and the name of Switzerland, ultimately derive from the toponym Schwyz, have been in widespread use to refer to the Old Swiss Confederacy since the 16th century.^[6]

Ethno-linguistic composition

Champery, Valais

(1904 photograph)

The ethno-linguistic composition of the territories of modern Switzerland includes the following components:

• The Swiss Germans (Deutschschweizer) are mostly speakers of different varieties of
  Austrian immigrants
  ) accounted for 62.3% of the population as of 2020.
  • Speakers of
    Basel-Land and Fricktal) subgroup, with most dialects of Aargau and Lucerne
    transitional between the groups.
  • Speakers of
    Low Alemannic in Basel and the Lake Constance
    area.
  • Speakers of
    Walser settlements in Central Switzerland, Grisons and Ticino
    .
• The French-speaking Swiss (
  Welsche (singular Welsche f./Welscher m.) in Swiss German. French speakers (including French immigrants
  ) accounted for 22.8% of population as of 2020.
• The Italian-speaking Swiss (Svizzeri italiani, see also
  Italian immigrants
  ) accounted for 8% of population as of 2020.
• The Romansh, speakers of the Romansh language, settling in parts of the Grisons, historically of Raetic stock. Romansh speakers accounted for about 0.5% of population as of 2020.^[8]

The core

in 1815. Romansh was at the time.

Switzerland experienced significant immigration from Italy in the very late 19th and early 20th century, such that in 1910 that accounted for some 10% of the Swiss population. This immigration was halted by the Great Depression and WWII. It restarted after the war ended. As elsewhere in Western Europe, immigration to Switzerland has increased dramatically since the 1960s, so that a large proportion of the resident population of Switzerland are now not descended or only partially descended from the core ethno-linguistic groups listed above. As of 2011, 37% of total resident population of Switzerland had immigrant background.^[9] As of 2016, the most widely used foreign languages were English,

Cultural history and national identity

The Swiss populace historically derives from an amalgamation of

("homesickness") described in the 17th century.

In

Modern Switzerland is atypical in its successful political integration of a multiethnic and multilingual populace, and is often cited as a model for new efforts at creating unification, as in the European Union's frequent invocation of the Swiss Confederate model.[14] Because the various populations of Switzerland share language, ethnicity, and religion not with each other but with the major European powers between whom Switzerland during the modern history of Europe found itself positioned, a policy of domestic plurality in conjunction with international neutrality became a matter of self-preservation.^[15] Consequently, the Swiss elites during the period of the formation of

From the 19th century there were conscious attempts to foster a federal "Pan-Swiss"

Funken

traditions of greater antiquity.

Identification with the national symbolism relating to the Old Swiss Confederacy was especially difficult for the cantons which had been joined to the Helvetic Republic in 1798 without any prior membership in the Swiss Confederacy, and which were given the status of Swiss cantons only after the end of the Napoleonic era. These specifically include Grisons, Valais, Ticino, Vaud and Geneva.

.

Citizenship and naturalization

Swiss citizenship is still primarily citizenship in one of the

, and the naturalization of foreign citizens is the privilege of the cantons. No Swiss passports were issued prior to 1915, more than 60 years after the establishment of the modern Swiss Confederation. Prior to 1915, citizens held passports issued by their cantons, the Confederation being considered as a federation of the cantons, not a state composed of natural persons as its citizens.

The

of 1874, which remained in force (with revisions) until 1999, defined Swiss citizenship as inherited from cantonal citizenship: Jeder Kantonsbürger ist Schweizer Bürger ("every citizen of a canton is a Swiss citizen").^[20] In the preamble to the current of 1999, a "Swiss People" (Schweizervolk) is invoked alongsides "the Cantons" as sovereign entity, and article 1 reads "The People and the Cantons [...] form the Swiss Confederation." Article 37 still defines Swiss citizenship as inherited from communal and cantonal citizenship: "Any person who is a citizen of a commune and of the Canton to which that commune belongs is a Swiss citizen."^[21]

As Swiss citizenship is entirely based on jus sanguinis, the place of origin rather than the place of birth is recorded in identity documents. As Swiss citizenship is tied to the cantonal citizenship associated with the "place of origin" (Heimatort or Bürgerort "home commune, commune of citizenship"), a citizen's place of origin is inherited from his or her father (from the mother if born out of wedlock or if the father holds no citizenship). The significance of the place of origin outside of the naturalization procedure has been gradually abolished in the early 21st century. Since 2012, the municipality or canton of a citizen's place of origin is no longer responsible for providing

While the cantons are responsible for naturalization, federal Swiss nationality law regulates minimal requirements necessary for naturalization. These requirements were significantly reduced in a 2018 revision of the law, allowing naturalization after a minimal period of residence of ten years, and in certain cases as little as five years (naturalization of spouses and children of Swiss citizens; years of residence at ages 8 to 18 count double). A further requirement is that the applicant be "well integrated" and "familiar with life in Switzerland", and must have both oral and written competence in one of the national languages of Switzerland.^[24] The federal law just specifies minimal requirements for naturalization, and cantons are free to introduce more stringent requirements.^[25] In practice, the cantons delegate the actual procedure of naturalization to the communes.

With 25% of the population resident aliens, Switzerland has one of the highest ratios of non-naturalized inhabitants in Europe (comparable to the Netherlands; roughly twice the ratio of Germany). In 2003, 35,424 residents were naturalized, a number exceeding net population growth. Over the 25-year period of 1983 to 2007, 479,264 resident foreigners were naturalized, yearly numbers rising gradually from below 10,000 (0.1%) in the 1980s to above 40,000 (0.6%) in the 2000s.^[26] Compare the figure of 0.2% (140,795) in the United Kingdom (2004).^[27]

Genetics

The genetic composition of the Swiss population is similar to that of Central Europe in general. Switzerland is on one hand at the crossroads of several prehistoric migrations, while on the other hand the Alps acted as a refuge in some cases. Genetic studies found the following haplogroups to be prevalent:

• R1a,^[33] J^[34]

Haplogroup R1b-U152 also known as R1b-S28 is the frequent haplogroup of Swiss people, followed by R1b-U106/R1b-S21.

• U4+U5 (14%), K (7%), J (5%)^[35]

See also

• Brünig-Napf-Reuss line
• Demographics of Switzerland
• List of Swiss people
• Women in Switzerland
• Röstigraben
• Swiss migration to France
• Swiss nationality law
• Swiss abroad
• Swiss Americans
• Swiss Mexicans

Notes

References

1. ^ "Bevölkerungsbestand am Ende des 2. Quartal 2019" [Recent monthly and quarterly figures: provisional data] (XLS) (official statistics) (in German, French, and Italian). Neuchâtel, Switzerland: Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO), Swiss Confederation. 19 September 2019. 1155-1500. Archived from the original on 20 September 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
2. ^ "Auslandschweizerstatistik 2016" (PDF) (in German). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2018.: total: 775k, single citizenship: 205k. Geographical distribution: Europe: 482k (France: 201k, Germany: 89k, Italy 52k); Americas: 185k (USA 81k, Canada 40k); Oceania 81k; Asia: 54k; Africa: 22k.
3. ^ Swiss Americans: 917k ±20k (Results – Community Survey 2013 Archived 2020-02-12 at archive.today, includes 80k Swiss citizens with residence in the US)
   Swiss Canadian
   : 147k (26k "single ethnic", 121k "multi-ethnic" responses; includes 40k Swiss citizens with residence in Canada) ("Ethnic Origin, 2011 National Household Survey". Statistics Canada. 8 May 2013. Archived from the original on 24 December 2018. Retrieved 24 November 2013.)
   Swiss Argentine: 300k (Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto de la República Argentina. "La emigración suiza a la Argentina (Swiss emigration to Argentina)" (in Spanish). Archived
   from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2014.).
   Swiss Chilean: 100k (actual supera los 100.000 ciudadanos, la mayor de América Latina" Archived 2014-10-16 at the Wayback Machine
   )
   Swiss Brazilian: 80k (História, Ciências, Saúde-Manguinhos - From Nova Friburgo to Fribourg in writing: Swiss colonization seen by the immigrants Archived 7 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine
   .
   Swiss Australian
   : 12k by birth, 29k by ancestry (2011 census).
4. ^ Ständige Wohnbevölkerung ab 15 Jahren nach Religionszugehörigkeit Archived 18 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Swiss Central Statistical Office 2015 Report. N.b.: the report contains data of the statistical analyses of the years 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015.
5. ^ 916k out of 5,293k of permanent residents of Switzerland aged 15 and over ("Ständige Wohnbevölkerung ab 15 Jahren nach doppelter Staatszugehörigkeit (2016)" (in German). Archived from the original on 11 November 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.) plus 570k out of 775k Swiss abroad ("Auslandschweizerstatistik 2016" (PDF) (in German). Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2018.).
6. ^ "Schwyz". New Oxford American Dictionary.
7. ISBN 0313309841. Archived
   from the original on 16 January 2023. Retrieved 10 July 2018. The Romands are a distinct Romance people
8. ^ "Languages". Federal Statistical Office. Archived from the original on 2 July 2022. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
9. ^ "Population résidante permanente de 15 ans et plus, ventilée selon le statut migratoire et le canton". Office fédéral de la statistique. Archived from the original on 16 November 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
10. ^ Ständige Wohnbevölkerung nach Hauptsprachen 2016 Archived 22 April 2018 at the Wayback Machine, BFS, 28 February 2018.
11. Council of States in the Federal Palace (see de:Die Landsgemeinde
    ).
12. ISBN 978-0-7546-4008-0
    , p. 88.
13. ^ Ferdinand Vetter, Ueber die Sage von der Herkunft der Schwyzer und Oberhasler aus Schweden und Friesland, Bern 1877, 10f.
14. ^ Hartley-Moore (2007)
15. ^ Kohn 1956:15–20
16. ^ Frank McLynn, Carl Gustav Jung (1997),
    ISBN 978-0-312-15491-2
    , chapter 1. "Jung advanced the paradox that the tolerable social order in Switzerland was a result of having `introverted' war; Switzerland was ahead of the rest of the world in that it was in a chronic state of mitigated civil war and did not direct its aggression outwards."
17. ^ Hartley-Moore (2007:213f.): "Localized equivalents of nationalist symbols were also essential to the creation of Swiss civil society. Rather than allowing a centralized federal government to force assimilation to a national ideal, Swiss policy nourished individual characteristics of different regional and language groups" throughout the country. In the Swiss model, pride in local identity is to some degree synonymous with loyalty to the larger state; national identity is nurtured through local 'patriotism.' As Gottfried Keller argued in the nineteenth century, 'Without cantons and without their differences and competition, no Swiss federation could exist'."
18. ^ Hartley-Moore (2007), citing Kohn 1956:78.
19. Christian confession
    in the 1848 version was dropped in 1866.
20. ^ Constitution of 1874 Archived 7 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Art. 43.
21. ^ Authoritative German Archived 2010-10-24 at the Wayback Machine, French Archived 2011-02-20 at the Wayback Machine and Italian Archived 14 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine as well as non-authoritative Romansh Archived 27 January 2020 at the Wayback Machine and English Archived 2016-06-21 at the Wayback Machine texts of Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation of 18 April 1999 (SR 101)
22. NZZ
    8 January 2012.
23. ^ Swiss nationality law, Art. 161 ZGB.
24. ^ Regular naturalisation Archived 3 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine Facilitated naturalisation Archived 10 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine
25. ^ "Naturalisation: on ne devient pas Suisse partout de la même façon | 24 heures". Archives.24heures.ch. 22 March 2011. Archived from the original on 28 June 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2013.
26. ^ "Bundesamt für Migration" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 October 2008. Retrieved 16 April 2008.
27. ^ Persons Granted British Citizenship, 2004 (pdf) Archived 2009-03-26 at the Wayback Machine
28. ^ Associated with the Paleolithic (Cro-Magnon); forming a small local maximum, relativegenetics.com Archived October 3, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
29. Neolithic revolution
30. ^ Relativegenetics.com Archived August 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
31. ^ Relativegenetics.com, together with Northern Italy forming a local I1c minimum Archived May 1, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
32. ^ Relativegenetics.com Archived August 16, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
33. ^ Exhibiting a gradient of decreasing frequency east to west, shared with Germany and Northern Italy, relativegenetics.com Archived October 23, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
34. ^ Relativegenetics.com Archived May 1, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
35. ^ UPF.Edi Archived June 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

Bibliography

• Walter Sorell, The Swiss: A cultural panorama of Switzerland. Bobbs-Merrill, 1972.
• Heinrich Zschokke, Des Schweizerlands Geschichten für das Schweizervolk, J. J. Mäcken, 1823. Internet Archive, trans. as The History of Switzerland, for the Swiss People by Francis George Shaw, 1855. Google Books
• Frank Webb, Switzerland of the Swiss, Scribners, 1910. Archive.org
• Paul Bilton, The Xenophobe's Guide to the Swiss, Oval Projects Ltd, 1999. Internet Archive
• Leo Schelbert, Swiss Migration to America: The Swiss Mennonites, Ayer Publishing, 1980.
• John Paul Von Grueningen, The Swiss In The United States: A Compilation Prepared for the Swiss-American Historical Society as the Second Volume of Its Publications, Swiss-American Historical Society, 1940, reprinted for Clearfield Co. by Genealogical Pub. Co., 2005,
  ISBN 978-0-8063-5265-7
  .
• Henry Demarest Lloyd, John Atkinson Hobson, The Swiss democracy: The Study of a Sovereign People, T. F. Unwin, 1908.
• J. Christopher Herold, The Swiss without Halos, Greenwood Press, 1979.
• Julie Hartley-Moore, The Song of Gryon: Political Ritual, Local Identity, and the Consolidation of Nationalism in Multiethnic Switzerland, Journal of American Folklore 120.476 (2007) 204–229.
• Arnold Henry Moore Lunn, The Swiss and their Mountains: A Study of the Influence of Mountains on Man, Rand McNally, 1963.
• Hans Kohn, Nationalism and Liberty: The Swiss Example. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1956.
• Marcello Sorce Keller, "Transplanting multiculturalism: Swiss musical traditions reconfigured in multicultural Victoria", in Joel Crotti and Kay Dreyfus (Guest Editors), Victorian Historical Journal, LXXVIII(2007), no. 2, pp. 187–205; later appeared in Bulletin - Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Musikethnologie und Gesellschaft für die Volksmusik in der Schweiz, October 2008, pp. 53–63.