On December 11th 2025, UNESCO added Swiss yodelling to its list of intangible cultural heritage. The decision, taken in New Delhi, is expected to raise the profile of a tradition that began as a practical Alpine signal: herdsmen once used it to call cattle across mountain valleys, a sound noted by travellers as early as […]
Ludwig Minelli, the founder of Dignitas, has died
Ludwig Minelli, the founder of Dignitas, Switzerland’s best-known assisted-dying organisation, has died. He took his own life on November 29th, just days short of his 93rd birthday. Once a correspondent for the magazine Der Spiegel from 1964 to 1974, Mr Minelli turned to law in 1977, enrolling at the University of Zurich. He earned his […]
Poverty in prosperous Switzerland refuses to fall
Despite its wealth and generous welfare system, Switzerland has struggled recently to make meaningful progress in reducing poverty. In 2023, some CHF 15bn in social transfers trimmed Switzerland’s underlying poverty rate from nearly a third of the population (31.7%) to 8.1%, according to the country’s first comprehensive national poverty study. That share has barely moved […]
Nearly half of Swiss workers say they end their day exhausted
Nearly half (41%) of Swiss workers say they end their day exhausted, according to the latest “Working Conditions Barometer”, published by the union federation Travail.Suisse. The study suggests that although overall job satisfaction remains high, the strain of long hours, blurred boundaries and rising workloads is taking a toll. The 2025 edition of the survey […]
Swiss journalists face rising hostility, study finds
Six in ten Swiss media professionals encountered insults or hate speech last year, according to the first systematic study of journalists’ safety in the country. The research, by the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), paints a picture of a profession increasingly exposed to harassment. Eleven per cent of respondents reported physical (19%) or verbal […]
Swiss soldiers may soon take ammunition home again
Swiss soldiers may soon be allowed to keep ammunition at home once more. The Security Policy Committee of the Council of States has voted, by seven to five, to instruct the Federal Council to prepare for the reintroduction of so-called pocket ammunition, citing Europe’s deteriorating security environment, reported SRF. For decades Switzerland raised eyebrows abroad […]
Switzerland’s fertility rate has fallen to a record low
Swiss women had, on average, 1.29 children in 2024—the lowest level since records began, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) reported on Monday. The share of people who do not want children is rising too. Among 20- to 29-year-olds the proportion declaring no desire for children rose from 6% in 2013 to 17% in 2023. For […]
Swiss Reformed Church follows Catholics and launches sexual abuse inquiry
Switzerland’s Protestant church is to commission an independent inquiry into sexual and spiritual abuse within its ranks. On Monday the parliament of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Switzerland voted unanimously to instruct its council to launch a scientific investigation into the issue, reported RTS. The synod approved funding of up to CHF 250,000 for the […]
Residents of Bern’s stretched homeless shelters mostly from abroad
Bern’s emergency shelters are under strain—and most of those using them are not Swiss. A new regulation introduced in October 2025 by the canton of Bern restricts access to emergency accommodation to people with valid papers, in an effort to ration scarce spaces. The measure, intended to ensure that limited places go to those legally […]
The decline of truth as professional journalism faces an existential crisis
Disinformation and conspiracy theories, amplified by social media, are distorting minds at scale. At the same time, the rise of news deprivation—a world in which citizens are either cut off from reliable reporting or simply tune it out—has deepened public confusion and mistrust. This week, we looked at a study that shows nearly half of Switzerland’s population […]
