Christianity in Switzerland

Religion in Switzerland (population age 15+; 2015 official statistics)

Christianity is the predominant religion of Switzerland, its presence going back to the Roman era. Since the 16th century, Switzerland has been traditionally divided into Roman Catholic and Reformed confessions. However, adherence to churches has declined since the late 20th century, from close to 95% in 1980 to about 68% as of 2015. Furthermore notable is the significant difference in church adherence between Swiss citizens (73%) and foreign nationals (52%) in 2015.

Switzerland as a federal state has no state religion, though most of the cantons (except for Geneva and Neuchâtel) recognize official churches (Landeskirchen), in all cases including the Catholic Church and the Swiss Reformed Church. These churches, and in some cantons also the Old Catholic Church and Jewish Congregations, are financed by official taxation of adherents.

The Federal Statistical Office reported the religious demographics as of 2015 as follows (based on the resident population age 15 years and older): 68% ±0.4% Christian (including 37.3% ±0.2% Roman Catholic, 24.9% ±0.2% Reformed, 5.8% ±0.1% other), 23.9% ±0.2% nonreligious, 5.0% ±0.1% Muslim, 0.2% ±0.0% Jewish, 1.4% ±0.0% other religions. (100%: 6,907,818, registered resident population age 15 years and older).

The country was historically about evenly balanced between Catholic and Protestant, with a complex patchwork of majorities over most of the country. One canton, Appenzell, was officially divided into Catholic and Protestant sections in 1597. The larger cities and their cantons (Bern, Geneva, Lausanne, Zürich and Basel) used to be predominantly Protestant. Central Switzerland, the Valais, the Ticino, Appenzell Innerrhodes, the Jura, and Fribourg are traditionally Catholic. The Swiss Constitution of 1848, under the recent impression of the clashes of Catholic vs. Protestant cantons that culminated in the Sonderbundskrieg, consciously defines a consociational state, allowing the peaceful co-existence of Catholics and Protestants. A 1980 initiative calling for the complete separation of church and state was rejected by 78.9% of the voters.

...
Wikipedia