The number of foreigners living in Switzerland has leapt above the two million mark for the first time.
The foreign population now makes up nearly a quarter (24.6%) of the total population, according to the Swiss statistics office, which reported that in 2015 there were 2,048,700 foreign nationals with permanent residence permits.
That represents a leap of 50,200 from the 1,998,500 foreign nationals in the country just the year before.
More than half (54%) of the total number of permanent residents were from Italy, Germany, Portugal, France and Kosovo.
Just below half (44%) of the residents have been in Switzerland for 10 or more years.
Most were clustered around Geneva, followed by the cantons of Basel and Vaud.
The overall population of the country rose by 1.1% in 2015 making a total of 8,327,100 citizens and residents. The population had also grown by just over 1% in the years 2013 and 2014.
The statistics agency said the growth was a combination of migration and natural growth – the difference between births and deaths.
Switzerland registered 86,600 births and 67,600 deaths in 2015. That’s in contrast to many European countries, including Germany, Italy and Portugal, where the number of deaths outweighed births, it said.
A February 2014 a referendum imposing quotas on all immigration in Switzerland received a majority vote. As a consequence, the federal government reduced the number of residence permits available to non-EU citizens.
Geneva canton said today in a statement that it is “extremely worried” that it could no longer offer work permits to “highly qualified non-European specialists” as it has reached its allocated quota.
This situation could affect EU nationals if Switzerland decides to implement quotas on immigrants from EU countries as well.
The country has been negotiating with the EU on how this could be implemented in Switzerland while honouring the EU’s commitment to the free movement of people and goods.
Swiss law provides the matter should be resolved by February 2017, but the talks were derailed to some degree by another referendum, namely that of Brexit.
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