Swiss Review 4/2020

Swiss Review / July 2020 / No.4 27 news.admin.ch Federal votes The Federal Council determines voting proposals at least four months before the voting date. Everything you need to know about voting proposals (voting pamphlets, committees, recommendations by Parliament and the Federal Council etc.) is available at www.admin.ch/votes or via the Federal Chancellery’s VoteInfo app. On 18 March 2020, the Federal Council decided to postpone the feder- al popular vote scheduled for 17 May 2020. The COVID-19 epidemic and associated containment measures would have compromised the smooth running of the vote and the unrestricted formation of opinion, thereby putting in question the integrity of the exercise. The Federal Council has decided that there will be five federal proposals submitted to the vote on 27 September 2020: ■ ■ Federal Popular Initiative “For moderate immigration (Limitation Initiative)”; ■ ■ Amendment of the Federal Act on Hunting and the Protection of Wild Mammals and Birds (Hunting Act, HuntA); ■ ■ Amendment of the Federal Act on Direct Federal Taxation (DFTA) (Recognition of third-party childcare costs for tax purposes); ■ ■ Amendment of 27 September 2019 to the Federal Act on Compensation for Loss of Earnings for Persons on Military Service or Maternity Leave (indirect counter-proposal to the popular initiative “For sensible paternity leave – that benefits the entire family”); ■ ■ Federal Decree of 20 December 2019 on the Procurement of New Fighter Aircraft. The list of pending popular initiatives is available in German at www.bk.admin.ch > Politische Rechte > Volksinitiativen > Hängige Volksinitiativen The suspension of deadlines in relation to federal votes was not extended, with the collection of signatures consequently permissible again from 1 June 2020. Responsible for the FDFA official communications: Simone Flubacher, Relations with the Swiss Abroad Effingerstrasse 27, 3003 Berne, Switzerland Tel. +41 800 24 7 365 or +41 58 465 33 33 www.eda.admin.ch, email: helpline@eda.admin.ch The “Fifth Switzerland” continues to grow The number of Swiss living abroad increased again in 2019, accounting for a pop- ulation of 770,900 by the end of the year – up by around 1.4 per cent. According to the statistics on the Swiss Abroad compiled by the Federal Statistical Office, most Swiss Abroad continue to live in Europe, namely 484,300 (or 63 per cent). The most popular European country of residence is France (199,800), followed by Germany (92,200), Italy (49,800), the UK (35,200) and Spain (24,200). How- ever, the EU country with the highest Swiss expatriate growth rate in 2019 was Portugal (+11.6 per cent). Some 286,000 Swiss Abroad live outside Europe – in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean (24 per cent), in Asia (7 per cent), in Australia and Oceania (4 per cent), and in Africa (2 per cent). Further information: ogy.de/statistics2019 Sources:FSO–PopulationandHouseholdsStatistics(STATPOP),StatisticsontheSwissAbroad(SE-Stat) gi-e-01.05.09.01-2020a Swiss citizens living abroad 01 Population ©FSO2020 2019 Swiss citizens living abroad Percentage of Swiss citizens living abroad by continent of residence Swiss citizens living abroad by gender and age group The most common countries of residence (includingdependentterritories outsidethemainland) 770 900 352 500 Average age 40 years 45 years 418 400 Swiss citizens living abroad as a percentage of all Swiss citizens 2019 10.7% 2009 10.1% 1999 9.1% By gender statistics.admin.ch 63% 16% 8% 2% 4% 7% 65 years or older 0–17 years 18–64 years 75% Swiss abroad with multiple citizenships 18% 25% 24% 19% 58% 56% France 199 800 Germany 92 200 United States 81 100 Italy 49 800 Canada 40 300 United Kingdom 37 200 Australia 25 500 Spain 24 200 Israel 20 900 Austria 16 700