Swiss people

People who were born in Switzerland or have Swiss ancestry are collectively referred to as the Swiss people.

From 1.7 million in 1815 to 8.7 million in 2020, the population of Switzerland will have significantly increased. More than 1.5 million people living in Switzerland have citizenship in more than one country. About 11% of the population resides outside the country (0.8 million, of whom 0.6 million hold multiple citizenship). Approximately sixty percent of those who live outside the United States do so in European Union countries (0.46 million). The United States, Brazil, and Canada are home to the greatest communities of Swiss emigrants and descendants found elsewhere in the world outside of Europe.

Although the modern state of Switzerland was established in 1848, during the height of romantic nationalism, it is not a nation-state, nor are the Swiss a single ethnic group; rather, they are a confederacy (Eidgenossenschaft) or Willensnation ("nation of will", "nation by choice", that is, a consociational state).

Since the 16th century, the demonym Swiss (formerly in English also called Switzer) and the name of Switzerland, which ultimately derive from the toponym Schwyz, have been in widespread use to refer to the Old Swiss Confederacy. In English, the name of Switzerland was formerly also spelled Switzerland.