Switzerland to vote June 14 on 10 million population cap proposal
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Switzerland is set to vote this summer on a proposal to cap the country’s population at 10 million, the latest effort by the country’s leading right-wing party to restrict immigration.
The Swiss People’s Party (SVP), which has the most seats in parliament, announced the referendum on Wednesday after gathering enough support through petition signatures.
The measure, which will be put to a national vote on June 14, comes as the population approaches 9.1 million, according to the Federal Statistical Office.
The anti-immigration campaign was proposed after officials noted that foreign-born residents now make up about 27 percent of the population.
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Snow covers the hills around Davos, Switzerland, on January 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)
SVP, which has been trying to prevent increasing immigration for a long time, said that more than 1 million immigrants from the European Union (EU) will come to Switzerland in 2024.
The party called the situation “uncontrolled migration” and said that “the majority of the Swiss population suffers” from the increasing demand for environmental resources and infrastructure.
“Our little country is bursting at the seams,” the party said. “Nature is being paved over. There is more traffic congestion on the roads than ever before, overloaded public transport, overloaded schools, housing shortages and rising rents, massively increased crime and exploding costs for Swiss taxpayers.”
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A large crowd waves many Swiss flags in Adelboden, Switzerland, on January 10, 2026. (Christophe Pallot/Agence Zoom/Getty Images)
If the measure becomes law, the total population of both Swiss citizens and foreign nationals should not exceed 10 million by 2050.
If the population reaches 9.5 million before that date, the government may take steps to curb growth by implementing asylum and family reunification measures, taking into account that many immigrants, especially Muslim men from North Africa, the Middle East and Afghanistan, enter through asylum applications.
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Major Swiss political parties other than the SVP, including centrist, left-leaning and liberal groups, reportedly rejected the initiative.
Critics have warned that adopting such a measure could strain Switzerland’s relations with its European neighbors, as most foreign-born residents come from other EU countries.
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Flags of European Union member states wave in the wind at dusk in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, on November 27, 2019. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)
In response, the SVP said lawmakers “could not state more clearly that they do not care about the concerns of the population that is increasingly suffering from uncontrolled migration.”
Officials also emphasized that they do not intend to terminate the “free movement of persons agreement with the EU”, which allows European citizens to move and work freely across borders, and stated that such an annulment will remain a last resort if the Federal Council does not limit immigration.
