Search and download data from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office
BFS gives you the open data of the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (BFS, Bundesamt für Statistik) in R. You get tidy data frames, in German, French, Italian or English. The package works with the four APIs of the BFS:
| You want | Use | API |
|---|---|---|
| Statistics of the Swiss Stats Explorer | bfs_sse_datasets(), bfs_sse_dimensions(),
bfs_sse_data() |
Swiss Stats Explorer |
| Datasets of the BFS data catalog | bfs_get_catalog_data(),
bfs_get_data() |
PXWeb |
| Tables and files (Excel, CSV, PX, …) | bfs_get_catalog_tables(),
bfs_download_asset() |
DAM |
| Maps and geodata | bfs_get_base_maps(),
bfs_get_catalog_geodata(),
bfs_download_geodata() |
ThemaKart, STAC |
The BFS is replacing STAT-TAB (the platform of the PXWeb API) with the Swiss Stats Explorer. See Get started.
install.packages("BFS")
# or the development version
# install.packages("remotes")
remotes::install_github("lgnbhl/BFS")library(BFS)Let’s get the vacancy rate (the share of empty homes, in %) of the
cantons of Geneva, Zurich and Bern. The dataset is
DF_LWZ_1, the vacant dwellings. You find this id with
bfs_sse_datasets(), or in the URL of the dataset on stats.swiss.
First, see the dimensions of the dataset and the codes of their values. Then download the data with the codes you need:
dimensions <- bfs_sse_dimensions("DF_LWZ_1", language = "en")
dimensions## # A tibble: 2,317 × 6
## dimension dimension_label value value_label position parent
## <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <int> <chr>
## 1 GR_KT_GDE Cantons, districts and communes 1 Aeugst am Al… 1 B_101
## 2 GR_KT_GDE Cantons, districts and communes 10 Obfelden 1 B_101
## 3 GR_KT_GDE Cantons, districts and communes 100 Stadel 1 B_104
## 4 GR_KT_GDE Cantons, districts and communes 1001 Doppleschwand 1 B_316
## 5 GR_KT_GDE Cantons, districts and communes 1002 Entlebuch 1 B_316
## 6 GR_KT_GDE Cantons, districts and communes 1004 Flühli 1 B_316
## 7 GR_KT_GDE Cantons, districts and communes 1005 Hasle (LU) 1 B_316
## 8 GR_KT_GDE Cantons, districts and communes 1007 Romoos 1 B_316
## 9 GR_KT_GDE Cantons, districts and communes 1008 Schüpfheim 1 B_316
## 10 GR_KT_GDE Cantons, districts and communes 1009 Werthenstein 1 B_316
## # ℹ 2,307 more rowsbfs_sse_data(
"DF_LWZ_1",
filters = list(
GR_KT_GDE = c("GE", "ZH", "BE"), # the cantons of Geneva, Zurich and Bern
WOHN_ANZAHL = "_T", # all numbers of rooms
LEERWOHN_TYP = "_T", # all types of vacant dwellings
MEASURE_DIMENSION = "RATE" # the vacancy rate, in %
),
start_period = "2020",
language = "en"
)## # A tibble: 21 × 12
## GR_KT_GDE GR_KT_GDE_label WOHN_ANZAHL WOHN_ANZAHL_label LEERWOHN_TYP
## <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr>
## 1 ZH Zurich _T Total _T
## 2 ZH Zurich _T Total _T
## 3 ZH Zurich _T Total _T
## 4 ZH Zurich _T Total _T
## 5 ZH Zurich _T Total _T
## 6 ZH Zurich _T Total _T
## 7 ZH Zurich _T Total _T
## 8 BE Bern _T Total _T
## 9 BE Bern _T Total _T
## 10 BE Bern _T Total _T
## # ℹ 11 more rows
## # ℹ 7 more variables: LEERWOHN_TYP_label <chr>, MEASURE_DIMENSION <chr>,
## # MEASURE_DIMENSION_label <chr>, FREQ <chr>, FREQ_label <chr>,
## # TIME_PERIOD <chr>, value <dbl>Search the BFS data catalog. Then download a dataset with its BFS number.
bfs_get_catalog_data(language = "en", extended_search = "university students")## # A tibble: 4 × 6
## title language number_bfs number_asset publication_date url_px
## <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <date> <chr>
## 1 University of applie… en px-x-1502… 36454608 2026-03-24 https…
## 2 University of applie… en px-x-1502… 36454606 2026-03-24 https…
## 3 University students … en px-x-1502… 36454426 2026-03-24 https…
## 4 University students … en px-x-1502… 36454424 2026-03-24 https…bfs_get_data(number_bfs = "px-x-1502040100_131", language = "en")## # A tibble: 19,320 × 5
## Year `ISCED Field` Sex `Level of study` `University students`
## <chr> <chr> <chr> <chr> <dbl>
## 1 1980/81 Education science Male First university degr… 545
## 2 1980/81 Education science Male Bachelor 0
## 3 1980/81 Education science Male Master 0
## 4 1980/81 Education science Male Doctorate 93
## 5 1980/81 Education science Male Further education, ad… 13
## 6 1980/81 Education science Female First university degr… 946
## 7 1980/81 Education science Female Bachelor 0
## 8 1980/81 Education science Female Master 0
## 9 1980/81 Education science Female Doctorate 70
## 10 1980/81 Education science Female Further education, ad… 52
## # ℹ 19,310 more rowsThe BFS publishes many statistics as Excel or CSV tables. Search them. Then download a file with its asset number.
tables <- bfs_get_catalog_tables(language = "en", extended_search = "students")
tables## # A tibble: 6 × 5
## title language number_asset publication_date order_nr
## <chr> <chr> <chr> <date> <chr>
## 1 Students at universities and … en 36460671 2026-03-24 ts-x-15…
## 2 Students at universities and … en 36460677 2026-03-24 su-e-15…
## 3 Students at universities of a… en 36460666 2026-03-24 ts-x-15…
## 4 Students at universities of a… en 36460675 2026-03-24 su-e-15…
## 5 Students at universities of t… en 36460673 2026-03-24 su-e-15…
## 6 Students at universities of a… en 7746958 2019-03-27 su-e-15…bfs_download_asset(number_asset = tables$number_asset[1], destfile = "students.xlsx")Get the official borders of Switzerland, the cantons, the districts or the communes as sf objects.
library(ggplot2)
ggplot(bfs_get_base_maps(geom = "kant")) +
geom_sf() +
theme_void()bfs_download_geodata().BFS is not affiliated with the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. Bug reports, questions and pull requests are welcome on GitHub.