Incredible that in 1960 there were more people living in the city of Zürich as there is now. Where did they pack them all?

https://www.stadt-zuerich.ch/prd/de/...twicklung.html

Manipulation of the records??

Guess what, they can´t afford to live in the city?


Better housing at lower pricing if you move outside of the city?

I wonder if there is any correlation between the date you discovered EF/the internet and the people starting to leave? It's a shame you weren't born 50 years earlier then we would have been spared your incessant vitriol.

I came to Zürich in February 1960 to join my Swiss girlfriend and to find a job. It was easy to move around the town, the little rush hours in the mornings and evenings were tiny compared to today's. Sometimes the trams were packed but as most of them were open-sided at the doorways you could grasp a rail and get a foot on the step, sort of Bangladesh fashion. Down at the main station most of them got off and seats became vacant. On those weekends when we went to my future in-laws the trains were only half-full.
There were of course very few cars parked on the roads and shopping, say in the Bahnhofstrasse, wasn't crowded. If I remember rightly there were no car parks and there were few tram services..
I suppose there were fewer people living alone in flats. A as a representative of my age group and my girlfriend and our friends who if not living at home had a room in a house or flat. My room, a nice one, cost me Fr.90.00 per month - I could use the bathroom but not the kitchen except for water and washing up - a cup, saucer and plate!


Eating out wasn't always so easy as there were fewer restaurants and as most working people went to lunch sharing tables wasn't seldom. I could have a lunch with salad and a drink (Rivella) for about Fr.3.50.


I cannot imagine that there were so many inhabitants in the city of Z. but it certainly wasn't noticeable. Don't forget however I'd just left London where even in 1960 the rat race was in full swing.

What I find intriguing, is why the big jump between 1933 and 34? The fact that the jump is pretty much the same for Swiss and foreigners suggests maybe it was just a different way of counting, or the city boundary changed slightly.

Less single people in those days and families on average had more children so less houses needed for the same amount of people as today.

A lot of the current districts/Kreises of the city of Zurich, including for example Oerlikon and Altstetten, were municipalities of their own who joined the Gemeinde of Zurich on 01 January 1934. Some others had already joined in 1893.

From Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z%C3%BCrich

Thank you for those very endearing reminiscences.

Thanks. They probably counted the animals in the zoo for this census

It might be down to the 1933 decree on settlement of foreigners, which brought many Swiss nationals back into the country with their 'foreign' families, plus the rise of facism in Germany.

https://books.google.ch/books?id=2UP...201933&f=false

Were you already in Zurich in 1960's ?

no! But my wife was. And she said these statistics are wrong . Manipulation!!!

Certainely, the numbers are correct. For what reason should anybody manipulate them?

Back in the 60ies people needed much less living space. Flats occupied by a whole family back then are inhabited by a single person or couple today. Moreover, 50 years ago there were much fewer office buildings compared to today.

In the 70ies and 80ies, Zurich experienced a sharp decline in population. Many people left the city because they had enough of the air pollution, the drug scene and the crime. They also dreamed of having their own little house and garden, settling in the sourrounding countryside. In the early 90ies, Zurich managed to solve the drug problem, liberalised the hospitality sector and motivated several big companies to move their offices to the city. The increased attractiveness of the Zurich prompted many people to return the city. As a result it's pretty hard to find accomodation at a reasonable price these days.

Even though the population of the city of Zurich was larger 50 years ago, greater Zurich was much smaller. Schlieren, Dübendorf, Opfikon etc were just small villages back then.

You could be right. It sure does look pretty hectic here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLb6ZRhvs8I

The thing is is that in the 1960,s the govt workers could hardly count to 10 let alone 400000!

+1

And somehow while reading it, I saw it all in black and white

According to the chart, omtatsat arrived around 1999.

Ahhhw, the perfect couple. Glad you found your true love.

Consult your local eye doctor

Charts can lie. Just like statistics can lie!