{"id":83196,"date":"2026-06-13T12:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T12:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/83196\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T12:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T12:26:09","slug":"switzerland-to-vote-on-unprecedented-proposal-to-cap-population-at-10-million-by-2050","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/83196\/","title":{"rendered":"Switzerland to vote on unprecedented proposal to cap population at 10 million by 2050"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Switzerland<\/a> is set to hold an unprecedented national vote<\/a> on a far-right policy to cap its population at 10 million <\/a>by 2050.<\/p>\n

The policy proposed by the far-right Swiss People\u2019s Party (SVP) concludes this weekend, <\/a>and ministers have warned that, if passed, it could have devastating consequences.<\/p>\n

If the \u201cyes\u201d vote wins, the Swiss government<\/a> would have to put in place policies that cap the population<\/a> at 10 million in the next 25 years, and if it hits 9.5 million before 2050, enact restrictions on family reunification, residency permits and asylum.<\/p>\n

If the population still exceeds 10 million before 2050, the proposal would require the government to withdraw from the country\u2019s free movement agreement with the EU<\/a> and end access to the EU single market.<\/p>\n

The current population of Switzerland stands at 9.1 million, up from 7.3 million in 2002 and 27 per cent of its population are foreign residents.<\/p>\n

The seven-member Swiss government, made up of ministers from Switzerland\u2019s four biggest parties, including the SVP, is collectively against the initiative, warning it could harm the country. <\/p>\n

\"AA man passes by posters campaigning for the “yes” vote (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Trade unions have dubbed the proposal the \u201cchaos initiative\u201d, while experts have warned the move will not solve housing or traffic problems. <\/p>\n

\u201cUncontrolled immigration<\/a> is causing Switzerland to grow far too quickly. The negative consequences are palpable in all areas of life,\u201d the SVP argued in its campaign.<\/p>\n

The party argues that immigration is fuelling increasing demand for more hospital beds and more places in schools, and that limiting immigration would ease the pressure.<\/p>\n

Switzerland\u2019s system allows for \u201cpopular initiatives\u201d to be put to a referendum if they get 100,000 backers within 18 months and are typically held four times a year. <\/p>\n

According to the latest opinion polls, voters are marginally closer to a no vote, with 52 per cent opposed and 45 per cent in favour. <\/p>\n

This is the first time a country has voted on whether to cap its population. Putting a hard limit on residents is not a measure any other country has tried, although China tried to slow growth through a one-child limit which it has since abandoned. <\/p>\n

While Switzerland\u2019s population has significantly increased by 23 per cent since the EU\u2019s free movement came into effect, its economic output has risen by about 24 per cent over the same period, according to government data. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83197,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[2198,17],"class_list":["post-83196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-switzerland","tag-horizontal","tag-switzerland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116742795208548509","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83196\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}