We have become a part of a statistic. According to the latest figures:
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Foreigners made up 21.98 percent of the Swiss resident population in 2009, figures released by the Federal Statistics Office show, a relatively stable percentage. Overall, the resident population of Switzerland continued to grow at a steady pace, to 7,783,000, with a foreign population of 1,711,000. The increase in the total population was due mainly to a positive migratory figure (immigration minus emigration), with immigration accounting for 81 percent of the total growth. The birth rate rose by 2 percent, with both the Swiss and foreigners showing increases. The average number of children rose, but almost imperceptibly, from 1.48 to 1.49 per woman. The age at which women start families continues to climb and is now 31.2, up from 31 in 2008. Women over age 30 were largely responsible for the growth in the 2009 birth rate. The figures also show the divorce rate slipping down for the third year in a row, to 19.000. Swiss marriages have stabilized at around 40,000 a year for the past 10 years.
22% foreigners – that is at least in one in five – I wonder what is the % of foreigners in NYC and the % in the US as a whole.
I took the picture above on a street behind the main train station of Lausanne.