For the first time in Switzerland, the number of people with no religious affiliation has overtaken those who belong to a religion, according to the statistics of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO).

In 2022, with a share of 34%, they are bigger than Roman Catholics (32%) and Reformed Protestants (21%), who have become steadily smaller in recent years. The rest of the surveyed said they were Muslims (5,9%), or belonged to other Christian communities (5,6%).

Over the past 50 years, the proportion of ‘nones’ among the Swiss population has grown steadily. From just 1% in 1970 it rose to 20% in 2010, and since then it has increased more than 13 percentage points more.

Region, age and gender

The figures vary from Canton to Canton. In Basel-City (56%) and Neuchâtel (53%), people with no religious affiliation make up the majority of the population, while in the central Swiss Cantons of Nidwalden (24%), Obwalden (22%) and Uri (19%) the figure is less than half as high. The lowest proportion of non-believer is found in the Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden (15%), which has a strong Roman Catholic tradition.

The ‘nones’ are also younger than the rest of the population. Only 16% of people aged 75 and over do not belong to any religion. In terms of proportion, people with no religious affiliation are most strongly represented in the 25-34 age group (42%). Overall, more men have no religious affiliation than women (36% vs 31%).

Reasons to leave

The study shows that many have only given up their religion later in life. Around half of them previously belonged to the Roman Catholic Church and 40% to the Protestant Church (the national ERKS).

The main reason for giving up is that they had lost their faith or had never had a faith at all (15% and 17%, according to the study). Another third did not agree with the statements and views on certain issues of the religious community they belonged to.

Furthermore, just less than a third of people with no religious affiliation consider themselves to be somewhat or definitely spiritual.

Religion or spirituality also play a rather or very important role in some situations for people with no religious affiliation, such as in difficult moments in life (28%) or in the event of illness (22%). Around 30% of them do not believe in one or more gods, but in a higher power.

Evangelicals: we need to ask ourselves what is our mission here

According to this data, evangelical Christians members of free churches (including Baptists, Brethren, Pentecostals, independents...) are counted among the 5.6% of "other Christian communities".

The co-director of the Swiss Evangelical Alliance, told Evangelical Focus in 2020 about the “fast and radical” secularisation process of Switzerland. According to Andi Bachmann-Roth, in Switzerland there are about 200,000 evangelicals (of a population of over 8.7 million people).

“We realise that we are minority now, and that can lead to frustration at times. But in all this retreat, I mainly see an opportunity. It obliges us to ask ourselves again: why are we as Christians here? And what is our mission?”, he said in this interview.