Religion in Switzerland - Demographics

Demographics

Religion in Switzerland - 2010 Census

The two major religious confessions are the Roman Catholic Church (38.8% of the population as of the 2010 census) and the Swiss Reformed Church (30.9%). The country is historically about evenly balanced between Catholic and Protestant regions. The larger cities (Bern, Zurich, Basel, Geneva) were and partly still are Protestant, while Central Switzerland and the Ticino are traditionally Catholic. 20.1% of the Swiss were irreligious.

Immigration has brought Islam (4.5% as of the 2010 census) and Eastern Orthodoxy (1.8% as of the 2000 census) as sizeable minority religions. Other Christian minority communities include Neo-Pietism (0.44%), Pentecostalism (0.28%, mostly incorporated in the Schweizer Pfingstmission), Methodism (0.12%), the New Apostolic Church (0.38%), Jehovah's Witnesses (0.28%), and the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland (0.18%).

Minor non-Christian minority groups are Hinduism (0.38%), Buddhism (0.29%), Judaism (0.25%) and "other religions" (0.11%). 4.3% did not make a statement on the 2000 census.

Regarding personal belief, the 2010 Eurobarometer poll found that 44% of Swiss citizens expressed belief "that there is a God", 39% expressed belief in "some sort of spirit or life force" while 11% answered that that they did not believe that "there is any sort of spirit, God, or life force"

Like in other European countries, the major Christian confessions are losing members whereas non-religious and Muslims are increasing. As of 2000, about 84.5% of the Swiss adhered to Christianity down from 98% in 1970; about 15.5% were irreligious or refused to answer up from 1.5% but lower than in 2010 ; Islam remained the largest minority religion with 4.3% in 2000 (0.3% in 1970), increasing to 4,5 % in 2010.