Echo

Stamp to mark “100 years of the OSA”

Special tribute is being paid to the OSA. Swiss Post is issuing a stamp to mark the organisation’s 100^th anniversary in April. The one-franc stamp was designed by Bernese artist Tom Künzli.

Fewer foreigners arriving and more leaving

More foreigners left Switzerland in 2015 than in the previous year and fewer arrived. The Federal Statistical Office indicated that this trend occurred for the second consecutive year. The net figure of 71,495 immigrants is 9.4 % below that for 2014. In total, 150,459 foreign nationals moved to Switzerland, which is 1.1 % fewer than in the previous year. The number departing rose by 6.1 %. Some 73,444 foreign nationals left Swiss soil last year. At the end of 2015, there were 1,993,916 foreigners living in Switzerland, 68 % of them from EU/EFTA states. Italy topped the list with 313,725, followed by Germany with 301,548 and Portugal with 268,067.

Naturalisations rise again

The number of foreign nationals becoming naturalised Swiss citizens continually fell between 2006 and 2014 – from 45,700 to 32,800. The trend changed in 2015 with the number of naturalised persons standing at 40,600. Experts believe the trend reversal compared to recent years is attributable to popular initiatives, such as the mass immigration and implementing initiatives, which have caused a mood of uncertainty amongst foreign citizens.

Correction

An error was made in the German version of February’s “Swiss Review”: The focus topic on page 9 read “Integration ist ein einseitiger Prozess” (integration is a unilateral process). This was an error: “Integration is NEVER a unilateral process”.