{"id":1147,"date":"2026-06-10T17:44:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T17:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1147"},"modified":"2026-06-10T17:44:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T17:44:28","slug":"switzerland-to-cast-worlds-first-ever-vote-on-whether-to-cap-population","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1147","title":{"rendered":"Switzerland to cast world\u2019s first ever vote on whether to cap population"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>A national vote on whether to cap Switzerland\u2019s population at 10 million in coming decades culminates with in-person balloting on Sunday. Swiss democracy gives voters a direct say in policymaking through referendums typically held four times a year.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1145\">Xbox\u2019s CEO spent her early career taking out trash and selling coupon books\u2014she says the secret to her rise was never obsessing over a dream career<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The proposal is backed by the populist Swiss People\u2019s Party, which has the most seats in parliament and has for years thrived off and fomented an isolationist streak in Switzerland.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Recent polling from the gfs.bern agency suggested that it could be a close contest.<\/p>\n<h4>A self-inflicted wound, or salvation for Swiss-ness?<\/h4>\n<p>Supporters of the initiative dislike an influx of expatriates from the neighboring\u00a0European Union, and say Swiss infrastructure, housing, social programs, natural resources and way of life have been strained under demographic growth.<\/p>\n<p>Critics say passage would amount to a self-inflicted wound, arguing that Switzerland benefits from closer EU ties, and gets needed labor, expertise and skills from foreigners in sectors like healthcare, finance, pharmaceuticals and technology.<\/p>\n<p>The federal government and Parliament oppose the idea. EconomieSuisse, a leading association of Swiss businesses, blasted it as an \u201cabsurd proposal\u201d that threatens Switzerland\u2019s security and prosperity.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Bernard Bapst, a People\u2019s Party lawmaker in the Fribourg region and a former customs official, rejected any risk to security and said \u201cvarious forms of criminality\u201d have risen since Switzerland adopted an open-border policy.<\/p>\n<p>Since Switzerland and the EU eased restrictions on citizens living and working across their borders in 2002, the Swiss population has grown by 23%, to 9.1 million as of the end of last year. Economic output has also increased, up 24% over the same period, government data show.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u201cWe are the victim of our own success,\u201d said Reto F\u00f6llmi, a professor of international economics at the University of St. Gallen in northern Switzerland.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h4>Passage would force the government\u2019s hand<\/h4>\n<p>A \u201cyes\u201d vote would require the Swiss government to take action to cap the population at 10 million by 2050. If the population reaches 9.5 million before then, it would have to enact restrictions on asylum, family reunification and residency permits, and could be forced to scrap Switzerland\u2019s EU deal on the free movement of people altogether.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1143\">Finance teams can\u2019t quit Excel. Workday wants to change that with AI<\/a><\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Because of the long-term horizon, experts say immediate economic and demographic fallout would be limited.<\/p>\n<p>Rene Schwok, a political science professor at the University of Geneva, said a \u201cyes\u201d victory would strain Switzerland\u2019s ties with Brussels and cloud the future of foreign investment in Switzerland: The EU is by far its biggest trading partner.<\/p>\n<p>The 38-country Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has reported that Switzerland had a foreign-born population of 32% as of 2024. It trails only Luxembourg, where more than half of residents were foreign-born, and Australia.<\/p>\n<h4>Migration long an issue across Europe<\/h4>\n<p>International migration has\u00a0long been a sensitive issue in Europe, as nations grapple with an aging population and increasing anti-foreigner sentiment. While that sentiment in other European countries centers on migrants from the developing world, most foreigners in Switzerland \u2013 by far \u2013 are Europeans.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Swiss voters have repeatedly tackled the immigration issue over the last half-century. Only one such referendum \u2014\u00a0\u201cAgainst mass immigration\u201d in 2014\u00a0\u2014 narrowly passed, after campaigners stoked fears about overpopulation and rising numbers of Muslims in the country.<\/p>\n<p>No country has ever voted to limit its population, said Philippe Wanner, an expert in demography at the University of Geneva, though countries like China have had policies to curb population growth.<\/p>\n<p>Many nations limit immigration, said Etienne Piguet, a professor at the Institute of Geography at the University of Neuchatel.<\/p>\n<p>In Switzerland, the debate has simmered for decades.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Around the turn of the century, as anti-immigration feeling was rising in Switzerland, then-President Adolf Ogi insisted: \u201cWe live from foreigners \u2026 we need laborers for tourism \u2026 we need intelligent people in Switzerland.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=1141\">Current price of Bitcoin for June 10, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Swiss People&#8217;s Party, with the most seats in Parliament, doesn&#8217;t like immigrants and wants to limit the country to 10 million people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1146,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-immigration"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - 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