The website homegate.ch has compiled data on rental prices in Zurich, Basel, Bern and Geneva over the last two years. The data shows how rents have risen in these cities and presents them on maps showing prices rises by suburb in each of these cities. The data presents rental prices for a 70 square metre […]
Retirement age to rise for women in Switzerland
The Swiss government has been looking at measures to shore up the finances of Switzerland’s pension system for some time. The difference between the official retirement age for women (64) and men (65) is an obvious target. Recently, the Federal Council, Switzerland’s executive, said it would include increasing the retirement age of women from 64 […]
Number below poverty line rises in Switzerland
In Switzerland, the revenue poverty line is income of CHF 27,108 (US$ 27,490) a year for someone living alone and CHF 47,880 (US$ 48,550) for a family of four. In 2017, the percentage of Switzerland’s population living below the poverty line was 8.2% or 675,000 people. In 2016, the percentage was 7.6%. Those most likely […]
Switzerland has highest percentage of millionaires
A generation ago millionaires were relatively rare. These days it is fairly easy to rub shoulders with one. According to a report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) there were 22 million US$ millionaires worldwide in 2018. One driver of the rising number of millionaires is inflation. A million dollars isn’t worth what it once […]
Switzerland number one for expat pay and stability
In 2019, Switzerland came top overall in a ranking of destinations for expatriates to live and work, moving up from eighth last year. Singapore, which had held the top spot for four years in the HSBC’s list of the best countries for expatriates, dropped to second place. Switzerland scored highly on salaries (1st), stability (1st), […]
Swiss parliament insists EU deal return to negotiating table
As the 30 June 2019 expiry date for Swiss-EU stock market equivalence approaches, the National Council, Switzerland’s parliament, has given a clear mandate to extend negotiations over the nation’s relationship with the EU. The negotiations, which began in 2014, are centred on the Framework Agreement, an arrangement designed to replace the patchwork of deals Switzerland […]
Switzerland’s upper house wants incentives for people who work beyond 65
The gap between Switzerland’s official retirement age – 65 for men and 64 for women – and average life expectancy is long. Life expectancy at 65 is 20 years for men (85) and 23 for women (88). More and more people are questioning the viability of living for two decades or more without working, particularly […]
Swiss health insurance deductibles to remain changeable annually
One idea for containing rising healthcare costs was to remove the possibility of changing health insurance deductibles every year, making it possible only every three years. If people are able to switch from high to low deductibles annually then they can save money by opting for a high deductible one year, while postponing visits to […]
Young Swiss no longer on hook for parents’ debts
The National Council, Switzerland’s parliament, supported a motion that would end the transfer of debt from unpaid health insurance premiums to young adults, according to 20 Minutes. Under the current system, when young adults reach the age of 18 they must pay any health insurance premiums that were not paid on their behalf by their […]
Swiss government decides not to act on roaming charges
The National Council, Switzerland’s parliament, rejected a motion to force Swiss mobile phone operators to remove EU roaming charges. 99 voted against, 78 for and 14 abstained, according to the newspaper 20 Minutes. In 2017, the European Union (EU) forced EU operators to stop charging their customers extra for calls made outside their home country […]
