The Great Crested Grebe is widespread in Switzerland, but is also found in slow-moving waterways and small bodies of water. Although it can defend large territories or form colonies, these are often located on very fishy areas with limited nesting possibilities: the Great Crested Grebe gathers in the rare reed beds of Lake Geneva (e.g. approx. 300 pairs at Les Grangettes VD), while its main populations are distributed on Lakes Neuchâtel (800-1100 pairs) and Constance (more than 1000 pairs, of which 360-460 on the Swiss shore). The distribution has hardly changed on the Plateau since 1993-1996, and the few newly occupied atlas squares have mostly been occupied by a family or solitary individuals. This is also the case in Ticino, where the colonisations only relate to isolated broods, which nevertheless show an expansion on the two large lakes, as well as on the Walenstadt lake, where these punctual events are a novelty; the settlements in the central Valais have taken place in gravel lakes. The most striking development, however, is in the Upper Engadine GR lakes at around 1800 m, where from 2005 onwards, breeding sites are now 800 m above the highest in 1993-1996.

The Swiss population has fallen from 4500-5500 pairs in 1993-1996 to 3500-5000 today. The sometimes significant reduction in phosphate content and the accompanying decline in white fish may have played a significant role in some lakes, in particular in Neuchâtel where the decline has exceeded 20% since the 1980s. In other areas, however, numbers have increased despite the decline in nutrients, for example from 1980 to 2010 in Lake Constance or after the period of high eutrophication in the 1980s in Lake Sempach. The nests must be protected from disturbance, including from the lake, for example by establishing protected and clearly marked shoreline areas.

Heterogeneous trends are also apparent in neighbouring countries, with an increase in France and stagnation in Germany and Italy, while the trend is negative at European level.