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According to the annual wealth report produced by Credit Suisse, Switzerland leads on wealth per adult with US$ 530,240, comfortably ahead of second-placed Australia where the figure is US$ 411,060. The US is third with US$ 403,060. © Sam74100 | Dreamstime.com During the twelve months to mid-2018, aggregate global wealth rose by US$ 14.0 trillion to US$ 317 trillion, a growth rate of 4.6%. Wealth per adult grew by 3.2%, raising global mean wealth to USD 63,100 per adult, a record high. There...

The percentage of Switzerland’s workers working for themselves has been slowly declining. In 2010, 13.7% of workers were self-employed. By 2017, the figure was 12.8% – self-employed includes those working as independents and those working for companies they own. Swiss (14.5%) are far more likely to be self-employed than foreigners (7.9%). This is partly explained by the low number of foreign farmers – farming is the Swiss industry with the highest percentage of owner operators (46%). ©...

On 25 November 2018, Swiss will vote on whether to accept laws allowing detectives to uncover welfare fraud. © Dan Grytsku | Dreamstime.com Currently, there is nothing specific in Swiss law covering the practice. In the past, investigators have been used to gather evidence on disability and accident beneficiaries. Between 2009 and 2016, detectives were used on around 220 investigations a year, of which around two thirds were found guilty of fraud. In 2016, the European court of human rights...

Switzerland exported close to 18% more arms over the first nine months of 2018 than it did in the first nine months of 2017, according to figures published by State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO). © Nwanda76 _ Dreamstime.com According to the numbers, in the nine months to 30 September 2018, Swiss companies exported close to CHF 300 million of arms, nearly CHF 45 million or 17.6% more than over the same period in 2017. The largest customers were Germany (60 million), Denmark (51...

Swiss Rail announced on Thursday that it would test free WiFi, named FreeSurf, on certain routes next year with a plan to extend the offer to all major routes from 2020, according to RTS. © Man Nok Ip | Dreamstime.com Train passengers benefiting from the tests in 2019 will be those travelling on InterCity trains between Lausanne and St. Gallen, Geneva and Zurich, and Bienne and Basel. Swiss Rail has not chosen Swisscom as its partner. So far only Salt and Sunrise are involved, however...

Swiss healthcare costs of 12.2% of GDP are the world’s second highest after the United States where healthcare consumes 17.1% of GDP, according to 2016 figures presented by the Federal Statistical Office on 18 October 2018. © Victorrustle | Dreamstime.com Switzerland spent CHF 80.5 billion on healthcare in 2016, the latest figures reveal. This comes out at around CHF 9,600 per resident per year across all age groups. The percentage of GDP spent on healthcare in Switzerland was 5.2% in 1960,...

In 2017, 15,906 couples in Switzerland got divorced after an average of 15.1 years together. The majority (56%) split before their 15th anniversary. © Bacho12345 | Dreamstime.com In 2017, 40.5% of those married for more than 30 years were divorced, compared to 40.3% in 2016. Breaking up after 30 years of marriage has been rising since records began in 1920 and has risen from 24.7% to 40.5% over the last 20 years. However, while the rate of divorce after 30 years of marriage has risen, the...

More bad news for Swiss household budgets was released today for residents of all but three Swiss cantons. © Hai Huy Ton That _ Dreamstime.com Health insurance premiums in 2019 will be on average 1.2% higher than in 2018 across Switzerland as a whole. However, within this figure there are significant cantonal variations. Hardest hit will be residents of Valais (+3.6%) and Neuchâtel (+3.1%), while those of Appenzell Inherrhoden (-1.5%), Uri (-1.5%) and Zug (+0%) will be spared a shock induced...

Recent government figures show a 13% rise in the number of vacant homes over the 12 months to June 2018. The number has more than doubled since 2009 when there were close to 35,000 vacant dwellings. By 1 June 2018, there were more than 72,000, a vacancy rate of 1.62%1 This might sound like good news for home buyers and renters, however it depends on where you hope to live. Drilling down to a regional level, home-shortage hot spots begin to appear. Greater Geneva (0.6%) and Lausanne (0.7%)...

After listening to the culprit claim she had committed the fraud to help her family, the judge sentenced her to deportation, according to the newspaper 20 Minutes. © Edward Olive | Dreamstime.com For the judge, the woman’s latest act of fraud, claiming unemployment benefits while working, was the straw that broke the camel’s back. This was the woman’s third welfare fraud offense. She would have been deported earlier if she hadn’t been pregnant. Previously, her husband had been deported but...