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Population, Midyear 2022: 8,740,472
Population Density (Number of Persons per Square Kilometer): 218.56
Life Expectancy at Birth, 2022: 84.25
Projected Population, Midyear 2030: 9,143,698
Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2022: 19.31%
Projected Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2030: 23.04%
Projected Percentage of Total Population Aged 65 and Older, Midyear 2050: 29.26%

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2023). Data Portal, custom data acquired via website. United Nations: New York. Accessed 12 May 2023.

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Population, 2021: 8,691,000
Annual Population Growth Rate, 2020-2030 (%): 0.5
Life Expectancy at Birth, 2021: 84
Share of Urban Population, 2021: 74%
Annual Growth Rate of Urban Population, 2020-2030 (%): 0.7%
Neonatal Mortality Rate, 2021: 3
Infant Mortality Rate, 2021: 3
Under-5 Mortality Rate, 2021: 4
Maternal Mortality Ratio, 2020: 7
Gross Domestic Product Per Capita (Current USD) (2010-2019): $81,989
Share of Household Income (2010-2019):
    Bottom 40%: 20%; Top 20%: 41%; Bottom 20%: 8%
Gini Coefficient (2010-2019): 31
Palma Index of Income Inequality (2010-2019): 1.2

Note: “Under-5 mortality rate – Probability of dying between birth and exactly 5 years of age, expressed per 1,000 live births.
“Infant mortality rate – Probability of dying between birth and exactly 1 year of age, expressed per 1,000 live births.
“Neonatal mortality rate – Probability of dying during the first 28 days of life, expressed per 1,000 live births.”
“Maternal mortality ratio – Number of deaths of women from pregnancy-related causes per 100,000 live births during the same time period (modelled estimates).”
Gini coefficient – Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income (or, in some cases, consumption expenditure) among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality.
Palma index of income inequality – Palma index is defined as the ratio of the richest 10% of the population’s share of gross national income divided by the poorest 40%’s share.

Source: United Nations Children’s Fund, The State of the World’s Children 2023: For every child, vaccination, UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, Florence, April 2023.

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“Switzerland’s slightly more than 8.5 million inhabitants live in the heart of Europe, unevenly separated into three main linguistic regions [1]. Swiss residents have a high life expectancy compared to other Europeans (e.g. 85.6 years for women in 2020) [1], and they are globally satisfied with the accessibility and quality of their care [2,3]. However, as in other European countries [4], the healthcare system is under pressure due to rising costs (11.2% of GDP in 2018) [2], the growing prevalence of non-communicable diseases and multimorbidity [5,6], patients’ increasing needs and expectations [3], and expected shortages of qualified professionals [7].”

Source: Filliettaz SS, Berchtold P, Koch U, Peytremann-Bridevaux I. Integrated Care in Switzerland: Strengths and Weaknesses of a Federal System. Int J Integr Care. 2021;21(4):10. Published 2021 Oct 29. doi:10.5334/ijic.5668

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“Switzerland has four national languages which represent the four principle language communities: 63.5% of the population speak German; 22.5% speak French; 8.1% speak Italian; and 0.5% speak Romansh (a Rhaeto-Roman dialect) (FSO, 2015d). About 38% of the population are Roman Catholic, 27% Protestant, and 21% do not belong to a religious community (FSO, 2015d). The total population in Switzerland was 8.1 million in 2013. This meant a rise in population by almost 30% since 1980 and annual population growth rates were around 1% between 2010 and 2013.

“About 27% of the population were born abroad, making Switzerland the country with the second highest proportion of foreign-born inhabitants in Europe (after Luxembourg) (OECD, 2015a). Immigration is dominated by those from other OECD countries (between 65% and 85%) and is characterized by a high proportion of persons with tertiary education (Dumont & Lemaître, 2005). Switzerland’s status of net beneficiary of highly skilled migrants reflects the historic need for qualified personnel in many sectors in Switzerland, amongst others in the health care sector.

“In 2008, Swiss voters agreed to join the Schengen Area but in February 2014 a diplomatic spat with Europe was triggered when Swiss voters supported a referendum limiting the freedom of movement of foreign citizens to Switzerland. Despite naturalization being a lengthy and complex process and the growing domestic resistance to the size of the immigrant workforce, these factors are likely to remain in tension, politically, with the economy’s need for highly skilled personnel across sectors and the continued appeal of Switzerland’s high standard of living.

“As in many other European countries, the Swiss population is ageing. The share of the population aged 65 and above was 17.7% in 2013, a rise of almost 4 percentage points since 1980. In the same period the share of those aged 0–14 years fell by roughly 5 percentage points to 14.8% in 2013 (see Table 1.1).

“An increasing share of the Swiss population lives in urban areas (73.8% in 2013). More than a third of the population lives in the five largest Swiss agglomerations and population density differs considerably between different cantons and regions (OECD/WHO, 2011). For decades the fertility rate has been about 1.5 children per woman.”

Source: De Pietro C, Camenzind P, Sturny I, Crivelli L, Edwards-Garavoglia S, Spranger A, Wittenbecher F, Quentin W. Switzerland: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(4):1–288.

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“Switzerland, officially known as the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic made up of 26 cantons. It lies in central Europe and is bordered by France to the west and northwest, Germany to the north, Austria and Liechtenstein to the east and Italy to the south. It covers an area of 41,285 km2. Major cities include Bern (the capital), Zurich, Basel, Lausanne and Geneva. The country is dominated by the Jura Mountains in the northwest and the Alps in the south central part, which together occupy about 70% of the country’s area. The Rhine and Rhône rivers both rise in Switzerland, and there are many lakes, including Lake Geneva and Lake Constance. The majority of the population lives in the Swiss Plateau, a narrow, hilly region between the two mountain ranges. Switzerland has a temperate climate with conditions that vary with relief and altitude (Fig. 1.1).”

Source: De Pietro C, Camenzind P, Sturny I, Crivelli L, Edwards-Garavoglia S, Spranger A, Wittenbecher F, Quentin W. Switzerland: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(4):1–288.

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World Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems and policies in the US and sixteen other nations.

Page last updated August 7, 2025 by Doug McVay, Editor.