A recent report from Switzerland Federal Statistical Office shows how an average Swiss household spends its income. In 2015, the mean income was CHF 9,946 per month, including all forms of income and any 13th month payment received at the end of the year. This means an average Swiss household of 2.17 people had CHF 119,352 […]
Glyphosate – Swiss government rejects ban plan. Plus how to avoid it.
Last week, the Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive, rejected the Green party’s plan to ban the use of the controversial herbicide glyphosate, a compound classified as “probably carcinogenic to humans” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organisation. According to 20 Minutes, the Federal Council thinks glyphosate residues in Switzerland are […]
Swiss still richest, according to Credit Suisse
The Credit Suisse 2017 Global Wealth Report, shows total global wealth rose 6.4% to USD 280 trillion in 2016, taking it to the its highest level since 2007, before the financial meltdown in 2008. Globally, average wealth per adult was USD 56,540. In Switzerland, the same figure was USD 537,600 (CHF 533,000), close to ten […]
Swiss government moves closer to personal digital IDs
The idea of digital IDs in Switzerland has been kicked around since 2002 when the government decided it was a good idea. Since then it has been hotly debated. Following a process of consultation, the government met on 15 November 2017, and announced it’s aiming to have some form of digital or e-ID written into Swiss […]
Swiss dietary changes that could halve environmental damage and improve health
A new study in Switzerland shows the impact dietary choices have on the environment. Compared to current eating habits, three different diets all roughly halve the environmental damage wrought by food production. Put together by Agroscope, a Swiss government research centre, the analysis looks at scenarios that would reduce environmental damage while maintaining the current […]
Earthquakes – Swiss study shines new light on the risks in the Alps
A study by scientists at ETH Zurich, published on ScienceDirect on 15 November 2017, provides a powerful new way of looking at the risk of large earthquakes in the Alps, Apennines, Zagros and Himalaya mountain ranges. Most know that mountain ranges are built by tectonic plates pushing against each other. However, some forget how seismically […]
My Swiss Story – reunited after 32 years
Everyone has a story. My Swiss Story is a series that looks at lives in Switzerland. This week we met Bill Harby, an American freelance writer and photographer living between Geneva and Neuchâtel. Married with three grown stepchildren, he has a third home in a forest on Hawaii’s biggest island, an erupting volcano. What brought […]
Passing on the right – a grey area in Switzerland
The rules in Switzerland are clear. With one exception, anyone passing on the right is breaking the law. In practice, many drivers are confused. Article 35 of Switzerland’s federal road traffic states that drivers can only pass on the left. The only time passing on the right is permitted is when there are parallel queues of […]
Switzerland moves closer to female board quotas
This week, Switzerland moved closer to requiring minimum percentages of women on company boards and management teams. A parliamentary commission came out in support of the Federal Council’s plan to require greater gender balance in the boardrooms of Switzerland’s large listed companies. A commission majority (14 versus 11) would like to see a minimum of […]
Reimbursement in Switzerland for drugs bought abroad could soon be possible
According to the newspaper NZZ am Sonntag, Switzerland’s federal government wants to allow Switzerland’s residents to claim for drugs bought abroad. Prices across the border are generally far lower. As recently as March 2017, the government told insurers that anyone buying medicines abroad would have to pay for them out of their own pockets. Now […]
