Switzerland – Muslim Population & Islamic Communities in Switzerland

Official figures indicate that the Muslim population has doubled in recent years, but some Sources say that there are about 150,000 Muslims residing in the country illegally.

Total population: 7.4 million
Muslim population (2016): 510.000

The first Muslims to arrive in the 1960s were workers, most of them from Turkey, the former Yugoslavia, and Albania, and their families joined them in the 1970s. Asylum seekers have recently joined too (a small
number of them hold Swiss citizenship).

According to a study prepared by the University of Freiburg, hostility towards Muslims in Switzerland is a direct result of political discourse and the media that exaggerates some aspects of Islam.

A controversial referendum in November 2009 adopted a constitutional amendment banning the construction of minarets, which was supported by 57.5 percent of the voters. Often this hostility fuels the growth of Islamophobia and negative stereotypes about Muslims as a result of world events.