[Abstract] A patient-oriented survey was conducted in Switzerland with the aim to establishing the distribution of medical X-ray examinations among the population. A sample of 1235 people aged between 15 and 74 y (589 males and 637 females) was contacted. The participants were asked to give the number of medical X-ray examinations performed during the previous 12 months. Three-fourths of the sample did not undergo any medical X-ray examination during a 12 month-period, and 10% of the population underwent more than 1 medical X-ray examination in a year. These results were independent of the geographic region. The age distributions of the participants who did not undergo any medical X-ray examination and those who underwent one medical X-ray examination were similar. On the other hand, the age distribution of the participants who underwent more than one medical X-ray examination was characterised by a higher contribution from the elderly. [authors]