Here is how many people live in Switzerland, according to the Swiss ministry for statistics (Bundesamt für Statistik). The numbers are from a report available on the web for 2001-12-31 ¹.
Ständige Wohnbevölkerung 7261200 permanent residents Ausländeranteil 20.1% foreigners Bevölkerungsdichte 176/km2 population density
Here is how many people live in the Kanton of Zürich, according to a detail report for 2001-12-31 ².
Ständige Wohnbevölkerung 1228600 permanent residents Ausländeranteil 22.1% foreigners Bevölkerungsdichte 711/km2 population density
Here is how many people live in the city of Zürich, according to the statistical yearbook, chapter 1 ³.
Personen im ganzen 364195 total people Ausländeranteil 29.7% foreigners
And here is how many people live in my quarter of the city, the Langstrasse, according to the same yearbook.
Personen im ganzen 10552 total people Ausländeranteil 41.9% foreigners
And finally, a press release from **1996** by the same Swiss ministry of statistics (Bundesamt für Statistik), asking whether foreigners commit more crimes than the Swiss.
http://www.statistik.admin.ch/news/archiv96/dp96042.htm
Here an unofficial translation of the above document:
Correcting for sex, age, and using only resident foreigners, ie. without asylum seekers and tourists, there is practically no difference between crime rates. In 1991, 44% of the convicted were foreigners. Of these, only 16% are residents, 7% are asylum seekers, and the remaining 21% are tourists, travelling through, or illegal immigrants. When looking at the resident foreigners only, only 29% of the convicted were foreigners.
Foreigners are often convicted for criminal acts that are impossible to commit for the Swiss, in particular when it comes to immigration laws. More than half the asylum seekers, and about a quarter of the convicted not living in Switzerland, broke immigration laws. When considering only laws that both foreigners and the Swiss can break, only 26% of the convicted were foreigners.
Now for age and sex: 86% of the convicted are male, and 50% are younger than 30. There are 59% males amongst foreigners and 81% males amongst asylum seekers, while there are only 46% Swiss males. Furthermore, the average age of foreigners is lower than of the Swiss. Considering this, there are practically no differences between conviction rates for foreigners and the Swiss. Young foreigners actually have lower conviction rates than young Swiss. The foreign population seems very well integrated. The only remaining differences is for young male asylum seekers: Their conviction rate is 4.9%, while young male Swiss have a conviction rate of 2.9%.
Conclusion: A major part of the crime is not caused by the resident population. This will probably not change in the future. Nationality has practically no effect on crime. This not only true for the number, but also for the type of crime:
Most crime for both groups is related traffic laws: 62% for foreigners, 65% for the Swiss. This is followed by financial crime: 22% each. For asylum seekers, things are differnt: 65% financial crime, 16% traffic related. The same is true for people travelling through and tourists: 35% financial crime, 48% traffic related. Crime related to health and life (Leib und Leben) is the same for all four groups: 4% to 5% each. There is a slight difference in drug related crime: 10% for asylum seekers, 15% for people travelling through and tourists.
An article in the NZZ from 2003-06-22 ⁴ talks about youth crime and its perception. The explanation for the rapid increase in crime is, according to that article, the increase in calling the police and indicting people. People are calling the police for things that was resolved amongst neighbours earlier. So we have a typical police-cycle, here. The media report on more violence, people are more affraid, thus they call the police earlier, pushing statistics up, which is reported in the media again.
Related book: *Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis* by Christian Parenti, ISBN 1-85984-303-3. See also Punishment.
One of the reasons for increased reporting seems to be the ubiquity of mobile phones, by the way – and low tolerance for violence in society, which is also positive. The article closes with a note that young people are more likely to commit violent crime, therefore youth criminality is more prominent (see the statistical analysis above). At the same time there is higher tolerance for typical adult crime such as fraud.
