Last week the Swiss People’s Party (UDC/SVP) and Action for a neutral independent Switzerland (ASIN) began collecting the 100,000 signatures required to launch a new vote to limit immigration into Switzerland from EU and EFTA nations. The new initiative to limit immigration is less ambiguous than the one put to a vote on 9 February 2014. […]
Budget busting burgers – Swiss franc still the most overvalued
The Economist has just published its January 2018 Big Mac index, a light-hearted measure of whether currencies are under or overvalued. The underlying assumption is that a Big Mac is the same whether bought in Kiev or Chur, so any price difference must be due to the exchange rate. In January 2018, Swiss Big Macs […]
Further heavy snow and rain forecast to hit Switzerland
On 21 January 2018, Meteo News reported that Switzerland is expected to be hit by more heavy snow and rain over the next three days, which will add to the significant snow that has already fallen. The avalanche warning has been raised to 5, the highest level, across much of the Swiss Alps. Further roads […]
Swiss fact: health insurance premiums cover only 37% of Swiss healthcare costs
Figures published in 2017 show that only 37% of Swiss healthcare costs were covered by basic compulsory health insurance premiums. The remaining cost was covered by the government (20%), accident and social insurance (10%), private complementary health insurance (7%), charity (1%) and out-of-pocket spending by individuals (26%). Infogram Compulsory Swiss health insurance requires policy holders […]
My Swiss Story – Geneva reunites a family
Everyone has a story. My Swiss Story is a series that looks at lives in Switzerland. Bashir Sakhawarz is poet and novelist. Originally from Afghanistan, he has lived in Europe, Asia, Africa and Central America, working for the United Nations, the European Union, the Asian Development Bank, the International Red Cross and various NGOs. What […]
Swiss rents could fall 10%, says UBS
In a report published today entitled: rents losing altitude, UBS says asking rents for apartments will probably drop by up to 10% over the next three years. Competition in the rental market is getting even fiercer. By mid-2017, 2.4% of all rental apartments were vacant. This level was last exceeded in 1998, when 2.8% of […]
Burning trees instead of coal puts forests at risk. Both sides not talking does too.
Scott Poynton, founder of The Forest Trust, in Nyon, reacts to the biomass debate. Last November, two videos hit the airwaves. One by Fern, an NGO against burning trees. Another by Drax, a biomass energy champion. The case for using trees for fuel is that it leaves coal in the ground. Opponents say its the […]
Hot air balloon festival set for take off in Swiss Alps
The international hot air balloon festival runs from the 27 January to the 4 February 2018 in the picturesque pre-Alpine town of Chateau d’Oex in Vaud, Switzerland. This year is the event’s 40th anniversary. The 9-day festival, which brings together pilots from around twenty different countries and nearly a hundred hot air balloons, includes a […]
VIDEO: High winds at Verbier left skiers swinging in lift
It has been a stormy 24 hours in parts of Switzerland. The winds were so fierce at the ski resort of Verbier, lifts were temporarily halted, leaving some swinging in the wind. The footage above was captured at Les Ruinettes (2,200m) looking down towards the town. The gondola on the right is empty but the […]
The evolution of Switzerland’s foreign population since 2000
Over the 16 years from 2000, Switzerland’s population grew by 16% from 7.2 million to 8.3 million. The majority of this growth came from the foreign population, which grew by 46% from 1.4 million to 2.0 million. The number of Swiss citizens grew by 521k to 6.3 million, a rise of 9% – buried in […]
