20.04.2021 – Three quarters of Switzerland’s population live in urban areas. Urban dwellers occupy around 2 million dwellings in almost 540,000 buildings. Nearly three-quarters of these are occupied by tenants, the majority of whom live in three-room dwellings. These figures come from the “Swiss City Statistics 2021”, which this year focuses on the theme of “living in cities”. The Union of Swiss Cities publishes its Statistical Yearbook in conjunction with the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (SFSO).
After the urban exodus of the 1980s and 1990s, Switzerland’s cities have undergone a veritable renaissance over the last twenty years: today, three out of every four people in Switzerland live in an urban area. 19% of the inhabitants of the 171 cities studied are under 20, 63% are between 20 and 64, and 18% are over 64. This age structure differs little from that of the rest of Switzerland. 47% of the urban population is single (versus 42% in the rest of Switzerland). 31% of urban dwellers are foreigners, compared with only 20% of the non-urban population.
The structure of the housing market contributes greatly to this population diversity. In 2018, the 171 cities surveyed had a total of 2.2 million dwellings in 539,767 buildings. Of these buildings, 46.8% were single-family homes and 35.6% multi-unit dwellings. The proportion of single-family homes increases in inverse proportion to the size of the municipality. The opposite is true for multi-unit dwellings: their share is 43% in Switzerland’s ten largest cities, compared with less than 33% in the 161 other cities.
Three-room apartments predominate
Three-room dwellings predominate in most categories of town size. Four-room dwellings predominate slightly in towns with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants. In larger towns, dwellings with five rooms or more are the rarest (9.8%). In the other categories, their share is 19%.
In Swiss cities, 69% of renters live in three- or four-room apartments. Most homeowners (86.5%) have four or more rooms.
The larger the city, the greater the number of tenants
From 2015 to 2017 (cumulative data), 74% of inhabited homes in Swiss cities were occupied by tenants or as part of a housing cooperative, 25% were owner-occupied. In Brig-Glis, Möhlin, Spiez and Uzwil, more than half of all residential units are owner-occupied. In Geneva, Lausanne, Zurich and Carouge, on the other hand, over 90% of homes are rented or owned by a cooperative.
Public housing – for a fair housing supply
Cities are building more and more public housing for the economically and socially disadvantaged. Public housing accounts for 1.3% of all residential buildings in Switzerland. In the major cities, the proportion is well above average (11.4%). In Zurich, 22.4% of three-room dwellings and 24.4% of four-room dwellings are public housing. But the proportion of public housing is also considerable (around 15%) in smaller towns such as Urdorf and Birsfelden.
PLR and PS in the lead
Swiss City Statistics” also includes data on political life in cities. The collection of this data was optimized in 2020 in collaboration with the SFSO’s Politics, Culture and Media section. The figures now reflect the situation after the most recent full renewal elections.
The most influential parties in urban politics are the PLR and the PS. In 2020, the PLR held 27.2% of seats on city councils. The SP ranks second with 20.6% of seats. The CVP, down 0.2% on the previous year, held 15.1% of seats. The SVP, also down 0.2%, remains in fourth place with 11.4% of seats. The Greens gained 0.8% and now hold 7.7% of seats in city executives. In parliament, the PLR holds 22.3% of seats, ahead of the PS (20.9%) and the UDC (15.3%). The Greens come fourth (11.6%). The PDC holds 9.3% of seats.
Source: Swiss Federal Statistical Office
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