Islam in Switzerland

Common card · No. 396496

Islam in Switzerland has mostly arrived via immigration since the late second millennium. Numbering below 1% of total population in 1980, the fraction of Muslims in the population of permanent residents in Switzerland has quintupled in thirty years, estimated at just above 5% as of 2013. The Turks and those from the Balkans (Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania) make up the largest group. There is also a large North African community (most from Tunisia and Morocco) and a significant Middle Eastern community. This is because in the 1960s and 1970s, Switzerland encouraged young men from Yugoslavia, Turkey and Sri Lanka (many Muslims included) to come as guest workers. Initially these young men were only planning on staying in Switzerland temporarily, however revised Swiss immigration laws in the 1970s permitted family regrouping. Consequently, these men ended up staying in Switzerland as these new laws allowed the wives and children of these young men into the country. Since this time period, most...

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