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A portrait of modern Switzerland in ten stats

The Local
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A portrait of modern Switzerland in ten stats
A Swiss flag at Jungfraujoch. Photo: Eric Titcombe

From wages to welfare, we've picked out ten stats from the country's and the world's top institutions, drawing out figures that give a fascinating snapshot of Switzerland today.

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Almost half of marriages end in divorce

Fewer Swiss people are getting hitched, compared with five years ago - according to the Swiss National Statistics Office.

The number of marriages that took place in 2009 was 41,918 - and in 2013 it had gone down to 39,794.

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Sadly, almost half of these marriages are doomed to fail. The divorce rate in 2013 was 41.9 percent – though admittedly it had fallen from a staggering 47.7 per cent in 2009.

If you’re a newly-wed, you may want to avoid the canton of Neufchâtel where more people get divorced than anywhere else in the country - 51.9 per cent. Geneva doesn’t fare too well either, with a rate of 49.9 percent.

The average age of spouses, meanwhile, hasn’t really changed all that much - 31.8 years for men and 29.6 years for women in 2013.

To give you an idea of how the divorce rate has changed since 1950, see the graph below. 

More Swiss are surviving cancer

Switzerland is making great strides in treatment of cancer. According to figures in the Concord 2 study, published in the leading medical journal The Lancet, the five-year survival rate has increased for all kinds of cancers. 

Among Swiss adults, the greatest improvement was in survival rates for prostate cancer. A total of 76 percent of people diagnosed with the disease between 1995 and 1999 survived for five years. For people diagnosed between 2005 and 2009 the survival rate was 88 percent.

Lung cancer, however, has a mortality rate of 19.5 percent followed by bowel cancer at 10.9 percent, according to Eurostat.

Overall, cancer is responsible for 26.7 percent of all deaths in Switzerland, slightly above the EU average of 26.3 percent.

Fewer women are having babies

Women have been having less babies across the EU since the 1960s and the story is no different for Switzerland, Eurostat figures show.

While in 1960 the birth rate was 2.44 per woman, this has since declined to just 1.52 per woman in 2012. The rate has remained the same since 2010.

This is only slightly below the average in the EU of 1.58 births per woman. 

Foreigners are driving up the unemployment rate

According to figures from the Federal Social Insurance Office, published in September, a total of 296,151 people are receiving unemployment benefits in Switzerland.

Of this number, 162,867 are men and 133,284 are women. 

The overall jobless rate, which is relatively low compared with other European countries, stood at 3.1 percent in October - an increase from 3 per cent the previous month.

This slight jump, according to a report from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco), is down to the rise in unemployed non-Swiss people in the country.

Although the percentage of non-Swiss unemployed in the country rose to 5.8 percent from 5.5 percent, the rate for Swiss citizens remained unchanged at 2.2 per cent.

Switzerland is getting safer

In 2013, the police crime statistics of the Federal Statistical Office recorded a total of 725,687 offences in Switzerland.

This shows a decrease of three percent compared with the previous year.

Offences under the Criminal Code, meanwhile, fell by six percent, mainly due to a decrease in the number of thefts, according to the statistics office.

There was a decline in the number of both minors and young adults charged, as well as those charged who were asylum seekers.

There is still gender inequality in the workplace

Switzerland still has some way to go when it comes to gender equality.

According to World Bank data, 61 percent of women over the age of 15 were economically active in 2012. This figure has remained the same since 2010. 

While for men this rate was 75 percent in 2012, down from 76 percent in 2011. 

The gender pay gap in Switzerland is still relatively high compared to EU countries, at 17.9 percent, Eurostat data from 2012 shows.

Homelessness - a hidden problem?

Stats for the number of homeless are hard to come by in the Alpine country. 

When contacted by The Local, the Swiss branch of the Salvation Army said it was unaware of any national statistics for the phenomenon. And there were no stats listed on the National Statistics Office’s website.

But although homelessness may not seem like a problem in the country, it definitely exists.

Authorities in Geneva have even converted a nuclear bunker to cater for the city’s homeless population, open between the months of November and April, reports The Guardian.

Last winter the shelter welcomed around 1,500 people from 63 nationalities.

High earners

In 2012 the average income in Switzerland was $53,265, according to the OECD.

And in 2011 Switzerland boasted one of the highest median household incomes in the world at $33,669, according to OECD statistics, second only to Luxembourg and Norway. 

Large immigrant population 

According to a report published in 2013 by the United Nations entitled Trends in Migrant Stock, Switzerland was home to 2.335,059 migrants.

That number accounts for 28.9 percent of the country’s population and one percent of the world’s migrant population.

One of the most unequal countries in the developed world

While Switzerland frequently tops the charts for per capita income, the wealth is spread unevenly. An OECD Better Life Index study in June reported that the Swiss ranked as the 29th most unequal country out its 34 member countries.

The report estimated the average "net adjusted disposable income" of the top 20 percent of the population at $58,794 a year.

By comparison, the bottom 20 percent of the population live on an estimated $12,880 a year. The inequities are more glaring in the country's largest cities. For example, in Geneva, the country's second largest city, less than 16 percent of the population own their homes, while the rest are renting (although a proportion of renters may own secondary homes outside the canton). 

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