Switzerland successful at integrating expats, study finds

A new report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has examined how well expats integrate into Switzerland. 

Expats make up 31 percent of Swiss population

The OECD study, “State of Immigrant Integration - Switzerland”, revealed that in 2023, international residents made up over a third of Switzerland’s population, around 2,7 million people out of 9 million. This was a 23 percent rise in the number of expats living in Switzerland compared to 10 years ago.

Furthermore, the majority of expats (75 percent) originated from the EU, taking advantage of the EU’s freedom of movement. Between 2011 and 2023, the most common countries that international residents came from were Germany (14 percent), Italy (10 percent) and Portugal (7 percent). 

Employment rates are high among expats in Switzerland

The study also found that international residents have a high employment rate (77 percent) when compared to other countries that the OECD has studied. Almost half of these people work in highly-skilled professions, such as doctors, engineers, teachers and other occupations defined in the International Standard Classification of Occupations.

However, people who have immigrated from non-EU countries often find it harder to get a job. Many struggle to have their university degrees or qualifications recognised in Switzerland.

Expat women also struggle to find jobs, particularly when compared to expat men. The employment rate of international women is 71 percent compared to 80 percent of women born in Switzerland. 39 percent of unemployed women who are expats search for a job for more than a year.

61 percent of expats have taken a language course

Learning the local language is also an important aspect of integrating into a new country. The OECD study found that after living in Switzerland for five years, around half of expats’ language skills improve from a basic to an advanced level.

Furthermore, 61 percent of immigrants living in Switzerland said they had attended a language course. The study credited government-subsidised language courses as an important reason why expat language skills were found to be higher in Switzerland compared to other countries studied by the OECD.

Expat children struggle more at school

Children who are born in Switzerland to immigrant parents tend to struggle at school, especially when the language spoken at home is different to one of the four official languages spoken in Switzerland. 34 percent of 15 to 16-year-old schoolchildren with immigrant parents were classed as lower performers when tested on reading skills, compared to 14 percent with Swiss parents.

The report concluded that “integration outcomes for immigrants in Switzerland are favourable in international comparison”, while recognising that there are still some challenges to integrating expats further that need to be addressed.