On 9th June, at the Careum Auditorium in Zurich, the results of a new investigation into parenting in Switzerland were presented at a press conference, followed by a round table discussion. Researchers, academics, doctors and political representatives debated one of the country’s most pressing demographic issues in the presence of journalists and invited guests.
Zurich, 9th June 2026 – IBSA Foundation has organised a press conference with the University of Zurich at the Careum Auditorium to present its new research on parenting in Switzerland. The study is entitled "Parenthood in Switzerland A Report on (In)Fertility and Childlessness”. It was conducted by the University of Zurich as part of the Priority Programme of University Research "Human Reproduction Reloaded", in partnership with IBSA Foundation.
The report is available here.
The investigation is the development of an initiative launched by IBSA Foundation back in 2017, when initial research sparked a debate in Switzerland on social attitudes to fertility. This new study, conducted through the panel survey CHARLS (Swiss Assisted Reproduction Longitudinal Study), provides a contemporary snapshot of the ongoing changes in Swiss society.
The afternoon began with a welcome by Silvia Misiti, Director of IBSA Foundation. This was followed by a screening of the trailer for La Luce Attesa (The Longed-For Light), a short film promoted by IBSA Foundation (LINK to article), made in collaboration with the CISA Film Academy of Locarno and directed by Etienne Del Biaggio. Presented by Marco Poloni, Director of the CISA Film Academy, the film explores the desire to have children through a mixture of archive footage and first-hand accounts, offering a powerful and universal reflection on the subject.
Following this, Professor Jörg Rössel, from the Department of Sociology at the University of Zurich, and Maila Mertens, researcher at URPP Human Reproduction Reloaded at the University of Zurich, presented the main research results during the round table discussion.
The study provides a picture in which the declining birth rate in Switzerland, which fell from 86,559 to 80,024 between 2015 and 2023, reflects a change that is more cultural than biological or economic.
Although traditional family structures continue to be important, the decision to have or not have children is increasingly influenced by personal values, individual life plans and subjective priorities in which emotional wellbeing, relationship stability and work-life balance count more than social expectations.
A clear sign in this regard is the proportion of young people between 20 and 29 who consciously choose not to have children, which in ten years has nearly tripled, from 6% to 17%. On the other hand, those who wish to have children do so later and later: the average age for having the first child is 31.3 years, among the highest in Europe. About one person in five reported having personal experience of infertility, the psychological burden of which is still not widely recognised. A third of those interviewed believed, incorrectly, that female fertility doesn't begin to significantly decline until after the age of 40.
Within this context, medically assisted reproduction is playing an increasingly key role in family planning, reflecting both the postponement of parenthood (with biological consequences that the population tends to underestimate) and ongoing changes in society.
The round table discussion, moderated by journalist and compère Marina Villa, brought together a panel of experts who examined the issue from various viewpoints: the demographic context, the reasons for the falling birth rate, the matter of infertility and its biological limits, the evolution of family structures, the role of reproductive medicine, and the implications for public policies and the healthcare system.
Professor Jörg Rössel, from the Department of Sociology at the University of Zurich and head of the research, presented the key results of the study, describing how the falling birth rate in Switzerland isn't due to a single cause but - as already mentioned - reflects a profound change in people's values and their plans for the future.
Professor Bruno Imthurn, member of the IBSA Foundation Scientific Committee and professor emeritus of Reproductive Medicine and Gynaecological Endocrinology at the University of Zurich, dealt with the biological aspect of the phenomenon: postponing having children has real medical consequences, and society still tends to underestimate the biological limits to fertility, relying on reproductive medicine as a solution available at all times of life.
Ursina Kuhn, senior researcher at FORS – Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences – and LIVES – Swiss Centre of Expertise in Life Course Research – shared insights from an ongoing longitudinal investigation of the Swiss population, comparing her observations with data from the study.
Reto Schumacher, Demographer and Project Head at the Office of Statistics for the Canton of Vaud, at the Department of Agriculture, Sustainability, Climate and Digitalisation, framed the Swiss data within the European context. He showed that the fall in the birth rate and the postponement of parenthood are trends shared by many countries on the continent, while Switzerland has one of the highest average ages for having a first child.
Katja Christ, First Vice President of the Swiss National Council, Vice President of the Green Liberal Party and a member of the Commission on Science, Education and Culture, discussed the role of public policies: what can the state do when faced with changes that are first and foremost cultural and biographic?
IBSA Foundation has been committed to such issues for years, using different media to reach an ever larger audience. The Parole Fertili project, begun as a digital story-sharing platform for those struggling to conceive, has evolved over time into a book, a theatrical play and, in 2025 with La Luce Attesa, a film. The research presented in Zurich is now part of that same journey, a tool to inspire a more mindful public discourse on family, fertility and social change.