Switzerland to vote on capping population at 10M • Hacker News Board

Re: Switzerland to vote on capping population at 10M

#41

Post by jeffbee » Sat, Feb 14, 2026, 4:23 PM UTC

_diyar wrote: post #27

Context as a Swiss person: One of the strongest political parties in Switzerland today is the SVP (german acronym) which is right-wing. It has won a strong plurality in national elections for easily a decade. This vote, however, does not stem from the federal (or even state-level) government, but instead is an initiative launched by a group of conservative politicians which happen to be part of the SVP party. The Swi…

SVP "which is right-wing" may not convey the degree and nature of that alignment. Just search for "SVP propaganda posters" or read https://www.dw.com/en/far-right-party-violated-anti-racism-l.... When I lived in Switzerland I was pretty shocked by how "out" the hard right was. It was as if having been neutral in WW2 not enough of their homegrown fascists got shot, and they still had plain old Nazis kicking around, holding offices and passing laws.

Re: Switzerland to vote on capping population at 10M

#42

Post by rimbo789 » Sat, Feb 14, 2026, 4:23 PM UTC

Typical right wing popularism to divide people and ignore the fact they have no actual solutions.

Racism is bad people. This will hurt people living in Switzerland today and those who end up there in the future.

Re: Switzerland to vote on capping population at 10M

#43

Post by bee_rider » Sat, Feb 14, 2026, 4:23 PM UTC

retired wrote: post #35

Will they use FIFO or LIFO to enforce the 10M? And will those people be exiled or taken out to the back?

Based on the general behavior of humanity: probably a priority queue/heap.

Re: Switzerland to vote on capping population at 10M

#44

Post by Mountain_Skies » Sat, Feb 14, 2026, 4:24 PM UTC

Herring wrote: post #20

Western societies are aging. If you don't take in immigrants (which is basically the government becoming the far right), you're on a timer. Your economy will slow, insecurity will rise, and the far right will surge anyway. It's happening to Japan. As far as I can tell, the problem is inequality leading to widespread insecurity because the rich buy up housing. The right wing has no solutions. What you probably need is…

"Line must go up" is such a death wish and I don't see how people who consider themselves "green" can also preach the line must go up mantra. Yes, there are consequences from a shrinking population. There are also consequences from a growing one, especially one that is cultivated with no regard to anything other than maximizing the absolute number. But I guess if you're one of the people who can benefit from the line going up while alive, it doesn't matter what happens to the world once you're gone. Just make sure that line is doing the right thing while you're breathing and that's all that matters.

Re: Switzerland to vote on capping population at 10M

#45

Post by lotsofpulp » Sat, Feb 14, 2026, 4:24 PM UTC

techie128 wrote: post #34

So how does this work in practice? Once the population reaches 10M, people can't have kids?

Based on Switzerland’s total fertility rate of 1.3, the population increases only due to immigration, so controlling the flow of immigration is all that would need to happen.

Re: Switzerland to vote on capping population at 10M

#46

Post by gpt5 » Sat, Feb 14, 2026, 4:25 PM UTC

FranklinJabar wrote: post #25

KellyCriterion wrote: post #7

Why shouldnt they be allowed to make a cap at 10M?

Switzerland is a state. Talking about what they're "allowed" to do is just meaningless. But, it does seem like a terrible place to live. I fear for the immigrants who form the basis of the economy.

Switzerland is consistently rated among the best places to live in almost any metric.

Re: Switzerland to vote on capping population at 10M

#47

Post by maxerickson » Sat, Feb 14, 2026, 4:26 PM UTC

techie128 wrote: post #34

So how does this work in practice? Once the population reaches 10M, people can't have kids?

Maybe they have to take a bounty first.

Re: Switzerland to vote on capping population at 10M

#48

Post by foobarian » Sat, Feb 14, 2026, 4:26 PM UTC

techie128 wrote: post #34

So how does this work in practice? Once the population reaches 10M, people can't have kids?

I'm going to guess that having too many kids would be a happy problem for them (and most gentrified Western societies)

Re: Switzerland to vote on capping population at 10M

#49

Post by jeffbee » Sat, Feb 14, 2026, 4:27 PM UTC

Herring wrote: post #20

Western societies are aging. If you don't take in immigrants (which is basically the government becoming the far right), you're on a timer. Your economy will slow, insecurity will rise, and the far right will surge anyway. It's happening to Japan. As far as I can tell, the problem is inequality leading to widespread insecurity because the rich buy up housing. The right wing has no solutions. What you probably need is…

Switzerland obviously isn't anti-immigrant. Really nobody is from there. Nearly half of their population immigrated. But the SVP wants selected varieties of white immigrants, nobody any darker skinned than David Hasselhoff, certainly not anyone from east of Vienna (the SVP had an entire anti-Kosovar campaign).

Re: Switzerland to vote on capping population at 10M

#50

Post by OtomotO » Sat, Feb 14, 2026, 4:27 PM UTC

alephnerd wrote: post #10

krthat1 wrote: post #4

"Anti foreigner sentiment"? Dear NYT, try to find an apartment in the EU or Switzerland. At best, you will get a furnished (to circumvent rent caps), overpriced 30 square meter dump that takes up 40% of your net salary. Once that problem is solved, we can talk about "sentiments".

Maybe work on changing zoning laws instead of pandering to farmers and rural cantons?

The problem is that most people want to live in cities for whatever reason and, lo and behold, if one wants to buy regional and biological the grain has to grow somewhere on the countryside.

But yeah, most people have lost touch with where food comes from originally, before it's in the shelves of your supermarket.