Arabs in Switzerland

The number of nearly 18,000 people by the end of the first decade became nationals of Arab Maghreb countries, make up 1% of the total foreign population in Switzerland.

[3] By the end of 2010, Switzerland was hosting on its territory, especially in the big cities and in the French-speaking cantons, nearly all 18,000 permanent resident of the three Arab Maghreb countries distributed as follows: Morocco (7469), Tunisia (6418), Algeria (5822).

The following chart shows the evolution of the number of permanent residents of the Maghrebis in Switzerland, according to their countries of origin in the period between 1981 and 2010.

the report indicates that migrants Moroccans, Tunisians and Algerians have witnessed remarkable transformation since 1994, from temporary accommodation to permanent residency, after allowing for specific legal immigrants to apply for Swiss citizenship.

[8] By September 2015, 5,000 Syrian refugees had received provisional permission to live in Switzerland, and an additional 2,000 had submitted asylum applications and were pending.