On 26 May 2021, Switzerland’s government announced a further round of lifting of Covid-19 related restrictions that will take effect on Monday 31 May 2021. The Federal Council said it is going further than proposed in the consultation, particularly with regard to events, private gatherings and restaurants. Better than expected epidemiological data have made greater […]
Geneva to host June meeting of Biden and Putin
On 25 May 2021, the White House confirmed that presidents Biden and Putin are to meet in Geneva on 16 June 2021. The meeting comes at a time of tension between the United States and Russia. President Biden has criticised the detention of Alexei Navalny, a Russian opposition leader, Russia’s agression towards Ukraine and interference […]
Fake meat sales on the rise in Switzerland
Sales of fake or faux meat products rose sharply in Switzerland in 2020, according to figures recently published by Switzerland’s Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG). Since 2016, the value of meat substitutes sold in Switzerland has more than doubled from CHF 32 million to CHF 72 million. However, it remains niche accounting for only 1.3% […]
Swiss Eurovision entry top choice of judges and artists
Switzerland’s Eurovision entry, the song Tout l’Univers (The whole universe) by Gjon’s Tears, came third in the 2021 Eurovision final held on 22 May 2021. However, it was the judges’ favourite. The 26 acts in the grand final garnered points ranging from 524 for the winner Maneskin from Italy, to zero for James Newman, the […]
Switzerland ranks 22nd out of 49 nations on gay rights
A ranking published this week placed Switzerland 22nd in a ranking of 49 European nations on gay rights by ILGA-Europe. Malta (94%) was ranked number 1 while Azerbaijan (2%) was ranked at the bottom in 49th position. Switzerland was calculated to be only 39% of the way towards a perfect score, according to ILGA-Europe. Scores […]
Convictions down 11% in Switzerland in 2020
Convictions of adults declined by 11% in 2020 in Switzerland, according to figures released by Switzerland’s Federal Statistical Office. This is the steepest decline in many years. In 2020 around 95 000 adult convictions were registered in the conviction register. This corresponds to a drop of 11% compared with the 2019 year. The greatest decline […]
Sharp drop in hours worked in Switzerland in 2020
The total number of hours worked in Switzerland in 2020 dropped by nearly 4% compared to 2019, announced the Federal Statistical Office this week. In a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic total hours worked in Switzerland dropped by nearly 300 million or 3.7% compared to the previous year. In 2019, 7.9 billion hours of […]
Switzerland: great quality of life at considerable cost
A recent survey of expats presents Switzerland as a double edged sword. The survey, which covers 59 nations, ranks Switzerland near the top on quality of life but near the bottom on cost. In the ranking by InterNations, Switzerland is listed 30 out of 59 countries overall for its attractiveness to expats. However, its score […]
Nearly 1 in 3 children suffer violence in Switzerland
Nearly a third of children and adolescents in Switzerland suffer physical violence at school, according to a study by the NGO UNICEF. In addition, 29% of children surveyed reported experiencing physical violence at home. Between November 2019 and June 2020, 1715 children and adolescents between 9 and 17 were surveyed across Switzerland and Liechtenstein about […]
Switzerland qualifies for Eurovision final
Swiss singer Gjon Muharremaj, known professionally as Gjon’s Tears, has made it through to the final of the 2021 Eurovision song contest. 22 year-old Muharremaj lives in Broc in the canton of Fribourg. His father is Kosovo Albanian and his mother Albanian. Broc is a small town in French-speaking Switzerland not far from the town […]
