Switzerland Votes on Whether To Cap Its Population at 10 Million

Swiss voters go to the polls Sunday to decide whether to become the first European nation to set a fixed limit on its population in a referendum that has laid bare deep divisions over immigration and threatens to strain ties with the European Union.Voters must answer a single question: Should the population be capped at 10 million? A “yes” vote would require the Federal Council and parliament to introduce measures curbing growth through 2050. If the population exceeded 9.5 million before then, asylum and family reunification programs would be the first targets for cuts. Should numbers climb above 10 million, Switzerland’s free-movement agreement with the EU could end entirely.“We have lost control,” Nils Fiechter, who represents the Swiss People’s Party in canton Bern’s parliament, told the BBC. “Unchecked immigration is leading to Switzerland no longer being Switzerland.”The country’s population now stands at just more than 9.1 million, up from 8.3 million a decade ago and 7.3 million in 2002. More than a quarter of its residents were born abroad, with nearly half of all foreign nationals coming from Italy, Germany, Portugal, and France. An estimated 1.4 million EU citizens live in Switzerland, and another 340,000 cross the border daily for work.The proposal comes from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, the country’s largest political grouping, which frames it as a “sustainability initiative” aimed at easing pressure on housing, infrastructure, and public services. The party claims “uncontrolled immigration is causing Switzerland to grow far too quickly” and that many residents “feel increasingly like strangers in their own country.”Switzerland’s system of direct democracy allows any proposal backed by 100,000 signatures to go to a national vote. Recent polls suggest a tight result, with opponents marginally ahead at 52 percent and supporters at 45 percent, according to pollster gfs.bern.The measure faces broad opposition from the government, business leaders, and trade unions, who warn it would damage an economy already grappling with sluggish growth and leave companies unable to fill jobs. Economiesuisse, a trade body whose members include Roche, Google, and Amazon Web Services, has campaigned against the cap.Jürg Müller, director of the think-tank Avenir Suisse, attributes recent growth to Switzerland’s economic strength and central location. “Switzerland is attractive. The economy is running well,” he told CNN, while acknowledging that “it feels for many people too crowded.”Critics have also accused the pro-cap campaign of stoking distrust of foreigners. “It is utterly xenophobic,” Green lawmaker Delphine Klopfenstein told Reuters. “Ultimately, it makes scapegoats out of foreigners.”

Switzerland Votes on Whether To Cap Its Population at 10 Million

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