Just under one million Swiss adults (over the age of 15) were dual-nationality in 2019, compared with 700,000 in 2010, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) said on Thursday.
Of these, 65% obtained their Swiss passport through a process of naturalisation, while the other 35% were born with it. Italian was the most common second citizenship (24% of the total), followed by French (11%), German (9%), then Turkish, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Though this represents an increase over the decade, the numbers of people granted citizenship sank in 2019: the 41,015 who received a Swiss passport that year amounted to a 3.2% drop on 2018.
And notably fewer people were granted fast-track citizenship, a process available to spouses of a Swiss citizen and to children of a naturalised immigrant who have lived in the country for five years. The extension of eased rules to third-generation immigrants in February 2018 also didn’t seem to have an effect: overall numbers on the fast-track dropped from 9,000 to 6,314.
Geneva counts the highest proportion of dual-nationals, with almost 50% of all residents in the canton holding two passports. In Uri and Appenzell Inner Rhoden, only around 5% have this status.
More
More
Third-generation immigrants in no rush to take up Swiss citizenship
This content was published on
Around 1,000 young people have applied for Swiss citizenship since the law changed one year ago to ease rules for third-generation immigrants.
Report finds serious security flaws in Swiss hospital information systems
This content was published on
The IT systems of several Swiss hospitals suffer from serious security flaws, according to the National Testing Institute for Cybersecurity (NTC).
Cost of leisure activities rises dramatically in Switzerland
This content was published on
The Swiss paid more for leisure activities in December. Prices for vacation apartments, package tours and cable cars rose significantly.
New Swiss epidemic surveillance centre inaugurated
This content was published on
The Centre for Pathogen Bioinformatics was inaugurated in Bern on Thursday. It aims to improve epidemics monitoring in Switzerland using genomic data.
This content was published on
Switzerland, as a member of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), signed a free trade agreement with Thailand during WEF.
This content was published on
The federal audit office has criticised the Swiss government for poor planning of the procurement of six drones from an Israeli supplier.
This content was published on
Swiss citizenship is highly sought after – and correspondingly hard to get. swissinfo.ch looks at how to get the naturalisation ball rolling.
This content was published on
Voters have endorsed a proposal to simplify the citizenship procedure for immigrants whose grandparents came to Switzerland.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.