A third of the Swiss population do not belong to any specific religion. This is roughly three times the proportion 20 years ago.

This content was published on June 13, 2023June 13, 20231 minute

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In 2021, 32% of Swiss had no religious affiliation, just behind the 33% of respondents who said they were Roman Catholic, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) said on TuesdayExternal link. Protestants make up 21% of the country.

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The proportion of people without a religion in Switzerland has risen steadily since the 1970s. In 2000, about 11% of the Swiss population said they had no religion. In a European comparison, however, the figure of one third is not particularly high, the FSO said. In France, for example, over half the country don’t belong to a religion.

People without religious affiliation in Switzerland tend to be young, educated and live in the city, according to the FSO. They also tend to live more in the French-speaking part of the country. In cantons Basel City and Neuchâtel more than half said they had no religion.

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Some of these people had left their religious community, while others had never belonged to a religion at all, according to the FSO. However, people with no particular faith also practised spiritual or religious practices. Almost a third of this group even stated that they were rather or certainly spiritual or religious.

According to the FSO, practices aimed at self-awareness and personality development are particularly popular among people without religion.

At least 200,000 people over the age of 15 living in Switzerland were surveyed for the study.

SOURCE More and more Swiss reject organised religion – SWI swissinfo.ch