Neutral Switzerland has more nuclear bunkers than any other country
Switzerland never stopped building bomb shelters after the Cold War and now has more than 370,000 of them — more than any other nation. Some are now being used to house migrants.
While many countries scaled back Cold War-era civil defense infrastructure once the conflict between East and West ended, Switzerland took a different path.
Despite its official neutrality, the country continued expanding its network of nuclear bomb shelters instead of phasing them out. Today, Switzerland has more than 370,000 such shelters — a larger number than any other country in the world.
A new purpose
Over time, some of these shelters have taken on a use far removed from their original purpose of protecting the population from military attack. A number of them are now being used to house migrants.
Details on how widespread this practice is, or how it fits into Switzerland's broader civil defense system, remain limited. Still, the shift illustrates how a decades-old investment in emergency infrastructure is now also serving a social function.
