How Switzerland became the nuclear bomb shelter capital of the world

NPR | By Rob Schmitz

Published August 2, 2026 at 5:01 PM EDT

Switzerland is home to over 370,000 nuclear bomb shelters. The historically neutral nation guarantees each of its nearly 9 million citizens a spot in case of an emergency.

Rob Schmitz

Rob Schmitz is NPR's international correspondent based in Berlin, where he covers the human stories of a vast region reckoning with its past while it tries to guide the world toward a brighter future. From his base in the heart of Europe, Schmitz has covered Germany's levelheaded management of the COVID-19 pandemic, the rise of right-wing nationalist politics in Poland and creeping Chinese government influence inside the Czech Republic.

See stories by Rob Schmitz

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