One in ten people in Switzerland have difficulty making ends meet financially

Life satisfaction in Switzerland is consistently high compared to other European countries and even reached the highest value of all European countries in 2022. Nevertheless, almost one in ten people struggled to make ends meet financially, and 4.9 percent of the population had to forego essential goods, services and social activities due to financial constraints. According to the 2022 Income and Living Conditions Survey (SILC) of the Federal Statistical Office (BFS), the poverty rate was 8.2 percent.

These are the most important findings:

On a scale of 0 to 10, the average satisfaction with current life in Switzerland was 8, while in Austria it was 7.9, in Italy 7.2, 7.0 in France and 6.5 in Germany. In Switzerland, life satisfaction has hardly changed since 2014 and increases with age, education level and income.

The population is especially satisfied in interpersonal areas such as living together, the working atmosphere or personal relationships. More than half of people aged 16 and older were very satisfied in these areas in 2022 (scores 9 or 10). However, only one in three people were very satisfied with their available free time or their personal financial situation.

The general standard of living in Switzerland is measured by the median equivalent disposable income, adjusting for differences in price levels between countries. In Switzerland this income is 2.5 times as high as in Greece, 1.5 times as high as in Italy, 1.3 times as high as in France, 1.2 times as high as in Germany and 1.1 times as high high as in Austria. Despite the high price level in Switzerland, the living standard of the population is higher than in neighboring countries and most EU countries.

In 2022, 9.9 percent of people in Switzerland struggled to make ends meet until the end of the month and 4.9 percent of the population was affected by material and social deprivation. This means that for financial reasons they have had to give up essential goods, services and social activities such as new clothes, regular leisure activities or meeting friends, could not pay their bills on time or could not cover an unexpected expense.

Poor people have significantly lower life satisfaction: in 2022, only one in nine people in need were very satisfied with their lives (10.9 percent versus 37.9 percent of the total population). Poor people were also most likely to report feeling discouraged or depressed most or all of the time (24.3 percent versus 5.4 percent of the total population) and were less likely to be happy often or all of the time (37.1 per cent). versus 76.6 percent of the total population).

In Switzerland, 8.2 percent of the population had a low income in 2022 (2021 income). This corresponds to approximately 702,000 people. The poverty rate was generally lower than the previous year (8.7 percent), but the difference is not statistically significant. In addition, the price increases for electricity, heating costs and consumer goods that have occurred since 2022 are not yet reflected in these figures.

As in previous years, income poverty often affects foreigners, people in single-parent families, people without post-compulsory education and people in households that do not participate in the labor market. At 3.8 percent (144,000 people), the poverty rate among the working population was also slightly lower than the year before (4.2 percent). However, this development is also not statistically significant.

The poverty line is derived from the guidelines of the Social Assistance Conference (SKOS) and in 2022 averaged 2,284 francs per month for an individual and 4,010 francs for two adults with two children. Of this, both daily expenses (food, hygiene, mobility, etc.) and housing costs must be paid, but not the premiums for compulsory health insurance. These, just like social security contributions, taxes and any alimony, are deducted in advance from the household income. (pre)