Housing shortage? Over 80% of the additional living space is needed due to population growth.

The average living space also varies depending on income, canton of residence, and other influencing factors. During the same period, the total population of Switzerland grew from 7.20 to 9.05 million inhabitants. Population growth contributes most strongly to the additional housing space needed. The effects of increased living space demand and population growth can be calculated separately: If the population had remained constant since 2000 (7,204,055 people), but the living space requirement per person had increased to 46.6 m², this would have meant an additional need of 18,730,543 m² of living space. Conversely, the additional need due to population growth is 86,068,988 m², calculated by the increase of 1,846,974 people multiplied by the current per capita requirement of 46.6 m². In total, this results in a (theoretical) additional required living space of around 104,799,531 m². The actual built living space varies from this value, among other things due to time delay effects and vacancies (see notes). The calculations show: About 82% of the additional living space demand can be attributed to population growth, around 18% to the increased space requirement per person.