NationStates Jolt Archive

Does Switzerland have any minoritites? Does it have any poor people? Does it even have any crime?

These are all honest questions, I'm really wondering about this and this is not a joke.

Depends on what you mean by 'minorities', which you haven't attempted to define.

But yes, Switzerland does have linguistic/ethnic minorities, not counting individuals who speak one of the four official languages of Switzerland.

To quote the Swiss government:

"The Federal Constitution (Art. 70 of the new Constitution) stipulates that German, French, and Italian are Switzerland's official languages, whereas Romansh is an official language for communicating with Romansh-speaking persons. German, French and Italian enjoy equal status in Parliament, the federal administration and the army. The most recent census produced the following picture of how the languages are distributed: (Swiss)German 63.9%, French 19.5%, Italian 6.6%, Romansh 0.5%, others 9.5%"

So whomever is in that 9.5% is presumably a 'minority' in that they're point of origin is most likely from outside Switzerland.

If you mean racial (rather than ethnic/linguistic) minorities, then yes, and the most famous example would be legendary reggae producer Lee 'Scratch' Perry, who is married to a Swiss woman, and lives in Switzerland.

And of course there are poor people in Switzerland. There are poor people in every European nation, with the possible exceptions of Monaco and the Vatican.

Depends on what you mean by 'minorities', which you haven't attempted to define.

But yes, Switzerland does have linguistic/ethnic minorities, not counting individuals who speak one of the four official languages of Switzerland.

To quote the Swiss government:

"The Federal Constitution (Art. 70 of the new Constitution) stipulates that German, French, and Italian are Switzerland's official languages, whereas Romansh is an official language for communicating with Romansh-speaking persons. German, French and Italian enjoy equal status in Parliament, the federal administration and the army. The most recent census produced the following picture of how the languages are distributed: (Swiss)German 63.9%, French 19.5%, Italian 6.6%, Romansh 0.5%, others 9.5%"

So whomever is in that 9.5% is presumably a 'minority' in that they're point of origin is most likely from outside Switzerland.

If you mean racial (rather than ethnic/linguistic) minorities, then yes, and the most famous example would be legendary reggae producer Lee 'Scratch' Perry, who is married to a Swiss woman, and lives in Switzerland.

And of course there are poor people in Switzerland. There are poor people in every European nation, with the possible exceptions of Monaco and the Vatican.

Right but I thought that because of Swiss immigration policies, that racial minorities arnt accepted into Switzerland (with the exception of stars like this guy). Also, are there really poor people in Switzerland, because I heard that its VERY VERY expensive to live there, so I cant imagine how poor people live there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Switzerland

This should sort it out. No, Switzerland is not an ethnically pure Aryan paradise. I'm afraid it's me who has to disappoint you.

http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index.html

This should sort it out. No, Switzerland is not an ethnically pure Aryan paradise. I'm afraid it's me who has to disappoint you.


Heaven, I'm in heaven....:D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Switzerland

This should sort it out. No, Switzerland is not an ethnically pure Aryan paradise. I'm afraid it's me who has to disappoint you.

http://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/portal/en/index.html

LOL, I gotta admit, I laughed out loud at that one, bro:p

Thanks, these sites worked perfectly. Just one more question, what about poverty in Switzerland, these covered minorities but from what I could tell didnt brush onto poverty and crime. Since you have been the authority of all things Euro to me, lol, I'm asking you to come through one last time with some sites for me, if you kindly would. Thanks man.

Just one more question, what about poverty in Switzerland, these covered minorities but from what I could tell didnt brush onto poverty and crime.
Glad to be of service.

Switzerland used to be the Rich People's Country. But just as with other European nations, globalisation and so on are catching up with it, and unemployment and poverty have reappeared.
http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901021014-361597,00.html
http://www.swissworld.org/eng/swissworld.html?siteSect=305&sid=4019908&rubricId=11050

It also depends somewhat on which part of Switzerland you're talking about.

Glad to be of service.

Switzerland used to be the Rich People's Country. But just as with other European nations, globalisation and so on are catching up with it, and unemployment and poverty have reappeared.
http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/article/0,13005,901021014-361597,00.html
http://www.swissworld.org/eng/swissworld.html?siteSect=305&sid=4019908&rubricId=11050

It also depends somewhat on which part of Switzerland you're talking about.

Hmm....it seems that atleast HALF of the problem with poverty in Switzerland is from immigration. "Two factors are largely to blame for swelling the ranks of the poor: an influx of immigrants that began in the 1960s and the recent economic downturn." Maybe this is just another reason that parties like the SVP advocate a Swiss first immigrants second policy?

And of course, thanks for the sites, again.

"Two factors are largely to blame for swelling the ranks of the poor: an influx of immigrants that began in the 1960s and the recent economic downturn."
Read on:
In the past 40 years, the Swiss recruited hundreds of thousands of unskilled foreign workers to fill low-paying jobs. By the 1990s, there were approximately 500,000 living permanently in Switzerland. When the crunch came, even though overall unemployment remained low at 2.6%, "a large number of poorly qualified people lost their jobs," says Yves Flückiger, who studies poverty trends at the University of Geneva.
It's primarily a globalisation thing. Switzerland invited all these people in, and now their skills are provided by others in other countries. Nonetheless, these people were invited there, and many have become Swiss, or at least Permanent Residents.

The SVP is indirectly connected with this because they basically blame foreigners for job losses, even though the real reason is that Switzerland is not competitive enough in some areas.
And that sort of campaigning results in a culture of blaming people, and ultimately a division between "us" and "them". Which screws up everybody concerned.

Read on:

It's primarily a globalisation thing. Switzerland invited all these people in, and now their skills are provided by others in other countries. Nonetheless, these people were invited there, and many have become Swiss, or at least Permanent Residents.

The SVP is indirectly connected with this because they basically blame foreigners for job losses, even though the real reason is that Switzerland is not competitive enough in some areas.
And that sort of campaigning results in a culture of blaming people, and ultimately a division between "us" and "them". Which screws up everybody concerned.

To me it doesnt really seem as though its a problem with the Swiss not competing, its just that they dont want those jobs but bitch when foreigners gladly come in and take them. *Cough* Mexicans in America *Cough*

Having said that, I do beleive that the Swiss need to suck it up over this issue. It stands at this. You see that immigrants are hurting your country, your gonna have to bend down and do some of the dirtier jobs, then, voila no immigrants. Same goes for Americans.

You see that immigrants are hurting your country...
But they aren't. On the contrary - having immigrants (and not just unskilled ones, many are very skilled, and only few are actually economic refugees) has benefitted the Swiss economy to no end.

Because various ex-immigrants and their children may not be high-skilled, they are simply the first to feel the pinch from a problem that has nothing to do with them.

How can you tell me that immigrants ARE NOT hurting Switzerlands economy, when just a few posts ago, you told me that they were, but it was partly the Swiss's fault because they were not being competetive and not taking up those low level jobs.

How can you tell me that immigrants ARE NOT hurting Switzerlands economy, when just a few posts ago, you told me that they were...
Oh no, I didn't. I said that the absolute number of people in poverty is higher because of the greater number of low-skilled people (immigrant or not) having to compete with cheaper labour from outside Switzerland.

They aren't the same thing. Fact of the matter is that if it hadn't been good for the economy, those immigrants wouldn't even have come to Switzerland. But they did, thanks to a government realising that its workforce was not big enough to sustain continued economic growth in the late seventies.

In short: Immigrants account for a some (not 50%, it never said that in the article) of the poverty, but they don't cause it. They just suffer first because of their position in Swiss society.

...but it was partly the Swiss's fault because they were not being competetive and not taking up those low level jobs.
Competitive primarily means that wage conditions and so on are too high in Switzerland.
In India, China and Eastern Europe you will now find people who have the same skills these Swiss have, but will work for much less. Therefore, those jobs go overseas, and Swiss people find themselves out of work.
And then the SVP comes along and blames immigrants.