Survey results 2024

Support for Foreign Aid

• When informed about Switzerland's per capita spending on development cooperation, about half of the respondents support increasing spending on Swiss development cooperation.
• A large majority thinks that Switzerland should engage in development cooperation to manage migration, promote global security, reduce climate change, and express solidarity.
  
  

Perceptions about Migration Patterns

• 64% of respondents believe international migration is at an all-time high, but the proportion of international migrants in the global population has only increased slightly since 1970 and is lower than at the beginning of the 20th century.
• Most international migration occurs between neighboring or regional middle-income countries, yet 70% of survey respondents believe migrants primarily move from low- to high-income countries.
  
  

Development Cooperation and Migration

• Around two-thirds of survey respondents believe foreign aid can reduce migration and that high levels of emigration hinder economic development in home countries by causing ‘brain drain’.
• Although the evidence on how aid influences migration and development is mixed, most research does not find evidence in support of these effects. Rather, studies highlight the positive impacts of migrant remittances and skills transfer to origin countries.