Islam in Switzerland: history and Muslim population data

History of Islam in Switzerland

The Swiss Confederation has an area of 41,277 sq km and its map is presented in Figure 4.5.11. There were no Muslims here according to the 1837 and 1850 censuses. The number of non-Christian religions combined increased from 387 or 0.01% in 1930 to 1,430 or 0.03% in 1950. As shown in Table 4.5.11 and based on census data, the Muslim population grew to 2,703 or 0.1% in 1960, to 16,353 or 0.3% in 1970, to 56,600 or 0.9% in 1980, to 152,200 or 2.3% in 1990, to 310,807 or 4.5% in 2000. The increase is due to Muslim immigrants coming mainly for economic reason.

Starting in 2010, the census is conducted and evaluated on an annual basis in a new form by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO). In order to ease the burden on the population, the information is primarily drawn from population registers and supplemented by sample surveys. Only a small proportion of the population (about 5%) is now surveyed in writing or by telephone. The reference day is December 31st. In this new census system, religion data is based on permanent resident population aged fifteen and over living in private households. However, this criterion underestimates the Muslim population by almost a third. For example, according to this method the size of the Muslim population was 11,078 or 0.24% in 1970, 34,476 or 0.71% in 1980, 86,898 or 1.60% in 1990 and 210,580 or 3.72% in 2000. The Muslim population then increased to 0.30 million or 4.6% in 2010, to 0.35 million or 5.1% in 2015 and 0.39 million or 5.5% in 2020.

Thus, assuming that the percentage of Muslims will increase by one percentage point per decade; then the Muslim population is expected to reach 0.9 million or 9% by 2050 and 1.5 million or 14% by 2100.

Historical Muslim population dataset for Switzerland

The figures below are from the CoMPS historical dataset. Population values are expressed in thousands; 2100 is a modelled projection, not a present-day count.

For the full time series and visualisation, use the interactive map above.