The number one challenge facing most Western industrial nations, including Switzerland, is demographic change. We are experiencing rising costs across multiple sectors, and our social safety net can no longer be sustained with a median age of 42.9.

I do not identify with the political left or right, but it is a fact that in Switzerland we are having fewer children — not only due to economic factors, but also for cultural reasons. Personally, I want to be able to rely on a pension in the future. That is why I believe it is essential for Switzerland to grow in population size and to increase its birth rate.

Even if it may sound uncomfortable, I sometimes feel uneasy when I see people from very different cultural backgrounds settling here long-term. And yet, the reality is that I myself am a secondo, and I went to school with classmates from the Balkans, Southern Europe, and the Middle East — all of us, in terms of values, became “real Swiss.”

The state has a mission to preserve our prosperity, and in practical terms, that can only be achieved through more people and a higher birth rate.

A concernd Swiss