Swiss voters set to vote on capping population at 10 million

Swiss citizens are set to vote on the ‘No to a Switzerland with 10 million!’ initiative, aimed at capping the national population below 10 million until 2050.

The measure, proposed by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), was put forward after securing the required 100,000 signatures.

The country’s largest party in parliament is calling it a ‘sustainability initiative’, arguing that uncontrolled immigration causes an unbearable strain on housing, public services and the environment.

Switzerland’s population has grown significantly in recent years due to a strong labour market. At the end of 2025, approximately 9.1 million people were living in Switzerland, around 27% of whom are not citizens.

If the population exceeds 9.5 million people, the initiative would force parliament to restrict asylum and family reunification,while reaching the 10 million mark would require terminating free movement agreements with the European Union.

Polls suggest the proposal will be rejected by a thin margin, with the government and major business groups strongly opposing it, warning that it would harm the economy, hurt national prosperity and jeopardise vital European security pacts.

They warn it could sink prosperity in Switzerland, where large swathes of the economy -from medical research to construction to healthcare – depend heavily on foreign labour, primarily from the surrounding EU. In the hotel industry too, “more than 50 percent of employees are foreigners”, says Martin von Moos, head of the industry association HotellerieSuisse, voicing concern that the initiative would worsen chronic labour shortages in the sector.

EU market access at risk

There are also fears the initiative would jeopardise major agreements linking Switzerland to the EU, its main trading partner, including their 1999 “agreement on the free movement of persons”.

Last year, more than half of Switzerland’s total exports went to the EU, to the tune of more than 147 billion Swiss francs (€159.2 billion).

“For us, access to the European market is vital,” said Pierre-Yves Bonvin, head of textile machinery manufacturer Steiger, which exports its entire production to the EU. The company, based in Vionnaz in the southwest, has relocated part of its production to China, but has retained high-value-added machinery in Switzerland.

More than a third of the 40 people Steiger employs in Switzerland are foreign nationals. “In Switzerland, we can find engineers to design, work and assemble the machines, but we lack the expertise to test and calibrate them,” Bonvin told reporters.

“There is no longer any training in this field in Switzerland, and we have to recruit these specialists from France and Germany,” he said, stressing that without these skills, “we could not continue to produce these machines in Switzerland”.

Rudolf Minsch, Economiesuisse’s chief economist, said the proposal “sells the illusion of a free lunch, and will not solve our housing or traffic problems.”

Video editor • Sertac Aktan

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