Society at a Glance 2024 - Country Notes: Switzerland

Spotlight on fertility trends

In 2022, 82 371 babies were born in Switzerland, corresponding to a total fertility rate (TFR) of 1.39 children per woman, slightly below the OECD average of 1.51.

Across the OECD on average, the TFR steadily declined from 1960 until 2002. There was a small fertility rebound in the 2000s until 2008, upon which the TFR dropped to an all-time low of 1.5 in 2022. Fertility rates in Switzerland have been below the OECD-average since 1960. The TFR fell to 1.5 children per woman in 1975 and has remained around that level ever since. Over the past two decades the TFR across the OECD average has converged to Swiss levels.

Figure 1. In Switzerland total fertility rates have been below OECD average

Number of children per woman aged 15 to 49, Switzerland and OECD average, 1960 to 2022

Source: Figure 1.1 in OECD (2024), Society at a Glance 2024, https://stat.link/vxdlnc.

Many factors affect fertility choices, including employment of both men and women, unemployment, financial support for families (e.g. paid parental leave and childcare supports) and housing costs (Figure 1.7, https://stat.link/8zu7m3 and Figure 1.14, https://stat.link/ois3k8). However other factors such as (financial) uncertainty as well as norms and attitudes also play a role. In many OECD countries, the desire to establish oneself in labour and housing markets have contributed to a delay of childbearing. In Switzerland, the mean age of mothers at childbirth rose from 30 years in 2000 to 32.3 years in 2022, around one and a half years above the OECD on average (Figure 1.5, https://stat.link/163n2d).

How does Switzerland compare?

Selection of indicators related to the chapter on fertility trends and other social indicators

Source: OECD (2024), Society at a Glance 2024, https://stat.link/vxdlnc.