38% of Over-15s in Switzerland Have ‘Migrant Background’

People with a migration background now make up almost 40 per cent of the adult population of Switzerland, according to official new figures.

On Tuesday, data from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) showed that 37.7 per cent of Switzerland residents aged over 15 had a migration background in 2019 — a rise of 1.3 per cent from the year before.

Eighty per cent of Swiss residents with a migration background were born overseas while the remaining 20 per cent were born in Switzerland, the French-language, newspaper 20 Minutes reports.

As a result, Germans and Italians were the most frequently recorded nationalities of migrants living in Switzerland in 2019, each making up 10 per cent of the total.

Presenting the demographic figures for 2019, the FSO notes that migrants have an unemployment rate just under three times higher of that of the native Swiss population. However, the bureau stressed that variables such as age and level of education were likely to be factors in the disparity.

Switzerland has seen a significant amount of immigration in the last few decades, but most migrants have come from Europe, with migration from outside the EU tightly restricted.

However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s decision to open Europe’s borders in 2015, which hailed a massive wave of illegal, third world migration, had prompted the number of asylum applications in Switzerland rise.

The country registered 18,088 asylum claims in 2017, granting asylum to 6,360 and temporary admission to 7,839. The majority of those granted some form of leave to stay hailed from Eritrea, Syria, and Afghanistan, while the country rejected many asylum seekers from nations including Georgia, Guinea, and Nigeria.

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