Post-War Migration to Switzerland

Author(s) : K. B. Mayer

Source : http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.1965.tb00877.x

Abstract:

In the postwar period Switzerland has experienced a large and sustained influx

of immigrants unprecedented in its history. To be sure, immigrants have come to Switzerland during all ages; the central geographical location and the close cultural connections with the neighboring countries have always facilitated a certain amount of immigration. But until the end of the 19th century the extent of this influx was hery limited, the continuous pressure of the native population on the scanty resources of the mountainous country offered few opportunities for large-scale immigration. The situation changed, however, during the latter half of the 19th century when the expansion of Swiss industry began to exercise a powerful attraction on the nearby regions of some of the neighboring countries where economic development had been slower. Around the turn of the 20th century

this influx assumed the character of a mass migration and Switzerland, for centuries a typical sending country, turned into a receiving country for several decades. During the quarter century preceding the First World War almost 300,000 foreigners crossed the Swiss borders and in 1914 the foreign nationals resident in Switzerland numbered approximately 600,000 or 15.4 per cent of the total population, a proportion not equalled by any other European country at the time.