The government has rejected the initiative backed by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) being put to voters on June 14, saying it will hurt cooperation with the European Union and damage the economy by restricting the labour market.
But concern about rapid population growth and pressure on public infrastructure is encouraging many Swiss to support the proposal, the survey by media group Tamedia with newspaper “20 Minuten” and polling institute Leewas showed.
Switzerland’s population is now more than 9 million, with official data showing foreign nationals accounted for more than 27% by 2024.
flamehorns on
Every country should do this.
bender3600 on
Have fun loosing access to the single market
Heretic193 on
Has population control ever worked without massive amounts of suffering being inflicted?
henryptung on
…how do they intend to enforce this? Reproduction permits?
bradab on
And how do they propose doing this? Expelling all other ethnic groups? Restarting the robust eugenics program they had into the 1970s with forced sterilization for those deemed genetically inferior? Licenses to reproduce based on genetic standards that are so very likely to resemble the Nazi ideals of a master race?
Sorry but I’ve seen this one before…this is dangerous thinking.
Omgbrainerror on
Im looking forward to the show in 10+ years.
CertainMiddle2382 on
It’s really a fight between city and countryside. Between higher educated and the rest (Switzerland remains a very rural country)
Interestingly, elderly are voting against (need new blood for accessible care and keeping their real estate high) and the ones the most in favor and lesser educated, rural youth, that are now feel heavily pressured by EU workers
You can’t hope continuing to advocate sending a majority of Swiss youth to trade school at 16 without protecting them from EU competition. Half an hour drive from Switzerland, salaries and 3-5x less…
Was saying that years ago. We aren’t in the 60s anymore and pushing for trade school as a golden path has been a lie for years. This is just the result of this lie.
flyingdravidian on
The must use a check valve fitted on their penis that gets its pilot control from a national population register.
rickdickmcfrick on
Malta should probably consider doing this at less than 1 million. Its too many
NoMention696 on
So if they hit 10 million do their new babies just get shipped off to foreign orphanages?
Cristoff13 on
Looking at stats:
* Swiss population: approx. 9 million
* Swiss birth rate per 1000: approx. 9.0
* Swiss death rate per 1000: approx. 8.4
* Swiss estimated fertility: 1.56
So there is no need to start expelling/murdering/sterilizing anyone. Just restrict immigration to a low level, and population will naturally stabilize at about 10 million.
If the population does go over 10 million due to natural increase, then, again, no extreme measures will be sanctioned, immigration will just be cut to zero and the population increase will be accepted.
Perhaps this is motivated by racism or bigotry, but on the face of it it doesn’t seem that bad. I suppose some may claim this will result in an ageing population. But growing the population by immigration doesn’t solve that problem.
gigasawblade on
Add tax on children then.
Or if it targets immigration – don’t call it “population limit”, call it immigration limit or something appropriate
DaftApath on
Dignitas is really pushing it with their marketing… /s
SacredWaterLily on
Is this basically the Swiss version of “building the wall” to cut down in immigration?
Tribaal on
It’s just the local far-right party doing anti-immigration things.
I doubt people will vote for the losing access to the single European market (since it would be a breach of our bilateral agreements with the EU).
The thing with initiatives – it doesn’t take so many signatures to be submitted, so we periodically get some random stuff proposed to referendum. Having something voted on is not some kind of endorsement of reason or well-soundness of arguments: it only means 100k people signed.
16 Comments
[Reuters reports](https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/most-swiss-back-initiative-cap-063424346.html?ncid=redditnewsus) – A slim majority of Swiss are backing an upcoming referendum proposal to limit Switzerland’s population to 10 million, and support for it is growing, an opinion poll showed on Wednesday.
The government has rejected the initiative backed by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP) being put to voters on June 14, saying it will hurt cooperation with the European Union and damage the economy by restricting the labour market.
But concern about rapid population growth and pressure on public infrastructure is encouraging many Swiss to support the proposal, the survey by media group Tamedia with newspaper “20 Minuten” and polling institute Leewas showed.
Switzerland’s population is now more than 9 million, with official data showing foreign nationals accounted for more than 27% by 2024.
Every country should do this.
Have fun loosing access to the single market
Has population control ever worked without massive amounts of suffering being inflicted?
…how do they intend to enforce this? Reproduction permits?
And how do they propose doing this? Expelling all other ethnic groups? Restarting the robust eugenics program they had into the 1970s with forced sterilization for those deemed genetically inferior? Licenses to reproduce based on genetic standards that are so very likely to resemble the Nazi ideals of a master race?
Sorry but I’ve seen this one before…this is dangerous thinking.
Im looking forward to the show in 10+ years.
It’s really a fight between city and countryside. Between higher educated and the rest (Switzerland remains a very rural country)
Interestingly, elderly are voting against (need new blood for accessible care and keeping their real estate high) and the ones the most in favor and lesser educated, rural youth, that are now feel heavily pressured by EU workers
You can’t hope continuing to advocate sending a majority of Swiss youth to trade school at 16 without protecting them from EU competition. Half an hour drive from Switzerland, salaries and 3-5x less…
Was saying that years ago. We aren’t in the 60s anymore and pushing for trade school as a golden path has been a lie for years. This is just the result of this lie.
The must use a check valve fitted on their penis that gets its pilot control from a national population register.
Malta should probably consider doing this at less than 1 million. Its too many
So if they hit 10 million do their new babies just get shipped off to foreign orphanages?
Looking at stats:
* Swiss population: approx. 9 million
* Swiss birth rate per 1000: approx. 9.0
* Swiss death rate per 1000: approx. 8.4
* Swiss estimated fertility: 1.56
So there is no need to start expelling/murdering/sterilizing anyone. Just restrict immigration to a low level, and population will naturally stabilize at about 10 million.
If the population does go over 10 million due to natural increase, then, again, no extreme measures will be sanctioned, immigration will just be cut to zero and the population increase will be accepted.
Perhaps this is motivated by racism or bigotry, but on the face of it it doesn’t seem that bad. I suppose some may claim this will result in an ageing population. But growing the population by immigration doesn’t solve that problem.
Add tax on children then.
Or if it targets immigration – don’t call it “population limit”, call it immigration limit or something appropriate
Dignitas is really pushing it with their marketing… /s
Is this basically the Swiss version of “building the wall” to cut down in immigration?
It’s just the local far-right party doing anti-immigration things.
I doubt people will vote for the losing access to the single European market (since it would be a breach of our bilateral agreements with the EU).
The thing with initiatives – it doesn’t take so many signatures to be submitted, so we periodically get some random stuff proposed to referendum. Having something voted on is not some kind of endorsement of reason or well-soundness of arguments: it only means 100k people signed.