GENEVA, April 10 (Xinhua) -- Switzerland's population topped 8.5 million for the first time in 2018 and just over a quarter of the Alpine nation's residents were foreigners in an aging society, the federal government said Wednesday.
Compared with the previous year, the population grew by 0.7 percent, the Federal Statistical Office's Population and Household Statistics released on Tuesday showed.
Among its population, 74.9 percent are Swiss nationals, while 25.1 percent foreigners, said the FSO.
The canton of Geneva had the highest proportion of foreign residents (40 percent) while canton Appenzell Inner Rhodes had the lowest share of foreigners (11 percent).
"The elderly population is growing in number," said the FSO.
The number of people aged 65 and over increased 1.8 percent year-on-year to nearly 1.58 million in 2018, according to the FSO.
People over 64 represent 18 percent of the population, while youth aged 0 to 19 make up 20 percent.
Among these seniors, there are 80 men for 100 women against 102 men for 100 women in the 20-64 years age bracket.
In the female population, the proportion of those aged 65 and over is already higher than that of young women (20.3 percent versus 19.3 percent).
Among men, on the other hand, the proportion of seniors is still lower than that of young men (16.6 percent versus 20.7 percent).
