The Swiss
The Swiss people (German: die Schweizer, French: les Suisses, Italian: gli Svizzeri, Romansh: ils Svizzers) are the citizens of the multi-ethnic Swiss Confederation (Switzerland) regardless of ethno-cultural background or people of self-identified Swiss ancestry.
The number of Swiss nationals has grown from 1.7 million in 1815 to 8.7 million in 2020. More than 1.5 million Swiss citizens hold multiple citizenship. About 11% of citizens live abroad (0.8 million, of whom 0.6 million hold multiple citizenship). About 60% of those living abroad reside in the European Union (0.46 million). The largest groups of Swiss descendants and nationals outside Europe are found in the United States, Brazil, and Canada.
Although the modern state of Switzerland originated in 1848, the period of romantic nationalism, Switzerland is not a nation-state and the Swiss are not a single ethnic group. Rather, Switzerland is a confederacy (Eidgenossenschaft) or Willensnation ("nation of will", "nation by choice", that is, a consociational state), a term coined in conscious contrast to "nation" in the conventional linguistic or ethnic sense.
The demonym Swiss (formerly in English also called Switzer) and the name of Switzerland ultimately derive from the toponym Schwyz. Both have been widely used to refer to the Old Swiss Confederacy since the 16th century.
Golden Sky
- 2010-04-23T00:00:00.000000Z
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