What you should do if you are selected for Switzerland’s 2024 census?
As part of the annual census that is underway in Switzerland now, about 200,000 residents have received a questionnaire in the mail. What should you do if you are among them?
Switzerland’s population census has been around since 1850.
Until 2000, it had been carried out every 20 years, and Switzerland’s entire population was called upon to participate.
Since 2010, however, this survey has been conducted annually, with only 200,000 residents selected to take part in it.
The population sample— consisting of Swiss citizens and foreign nationals domiciled in Switzerland — is culled at random from the communal and cantonal population registers, as well as from other official databases.
What is the purpose of the census?
It allows the government to continuously monitor matters relating to population, households, employment, health and social matters, education, housing, migration, culture and religion, as well as mobility and the environment.
The census can also be used to identify any existing or emerging problems in society, and to decide where to attribute public funds.
The Federal Social Insurance Office, for instance, uses census data to determine future financing of the state pension scheme.
Cantons and municipalities, for their part, rely on census statistics to assess, the state of public services on their territories.
All this to say that, ultimately, information provided by the census is in everyone’s interest.
Must you fill out this questionnaire?
If you receive the form from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), which is responsible for conducting this survey, you have to fill it out and send it back before January 29th.
In case you miss this initial deadline, you will receive two more reminder letters; the first one on February 9th and the second on March 22nd.
And yes, participation in the survey is mandatory under the Census Act.
If you don’t respond, you could be fined up to 1,000 francs.
However, according to Julia Voronkova, who is responsible for the survey, “so far, no such fees have been imposed because the willingness [of the population] to participate in the census has been very high.”
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Switzerland’s population census has been around since 1850.
Until 2000, it had been carried out every 20 years, and Switzerland’s entire population was called upon to participate.
Since 2010, however, this survey has been conducted annually, with only 200,000 residents selected to take part in it.
The population sample— consisting of Swiss citizens and foreign nationals domiciled in Switzerland — is culled at random from the communal and cantonal population registers, as well as from other official databases.
What is the purpose of the census?
It allows the government to continuously monitor matters relating to population, households, employment, health and social matters, education, housing, migration, culture and religion, as well as mobility and the environment.
The census can also be used to identify any existing or emerging problems in society, and to decide where to attribute public funds.
The Federal Social Insurance Office, for instance, uses census data to determine future financing of the state pension scheme.
Cantons and municipalities, for their part, rely on census statistics to assess, the state of public services on their territories.
All this to say that, ultimately, information provided by the census is in everyone’s interest.
Must you fill out this questionnaire?
If you receive the form from the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), which is responsible for conducting this survey, you have to fill it out and send it back before January 29th.
In case you miss this initial deadline, you will receive two more reminder letters; the first one on February 9th and the second on March 22nd.
And yes, participation in the survey is mandatory under the Census Act.
If you don’t respond, you could be fined up to 1,000 francs.
However, according to Julia Voronkova, who is responsible for the survey, “so far, no such fees have been imposed because the willingness [of the population] to participate in the census has been very high.”
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