Switzerland expands as Europe contracts and neither is happy

Published on April 28, 2026

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Swissinfo
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A Swissinfo analysis unpacks how demographic change and workforce migration are transforming Europe and Switzerland. There is no viable roadmap for the future, limited winners, and profound disruptions on the horizon. In hospitals in the German-speaking region of Switzerland, rather than using local dialects, people speak standard German. Without foreign staff, the Swiss healthcare system would not work. On average, more than 41% of doctors are trained abroad. At some hospitals, the proportion is much higher. At Zurich University Hospital, more than 50% come from abroad, many of them from Germany. The idea of poaching doctors is only the most prominent example of what economists call the “import of human capital”. Many vacancies in Switzerland can only be filled thanks to migrant workers from the EU. This happens across the labour market. “What characterises Switzerland is its ability to attract both highly qualified professionals and unskilled workers at the same time, in jobs ... Full story here Are you the author?

About Swissinfo

SWI swissinfo.ch – the international service of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC). Since 1999, swissinfo.ch has fulfilled the federal government’s mandate to distribute information about Switzerland internationally, supplementing the online offerings of the radio and television stations of the SBC. Today, the international service is directed above all at an international audience interested in Switzerland, as well as at Swiss citizens living abroad.

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