by A survey published this week by the organisation Pro Familia shows that 52% of families across Switzerland are struggling to make ends meet. Photo by Vika Glitter on Pexels.comFor many families in Switzerland, money is tight or insufficient to cover all living expenses. The percentage finding themselves in this position rose from 47% to 52%. The rising cost of health insurance was the biggest challenge cited by most of those surveyed. Regarding saving, 30% said they were unable to save any money and a further 37% reported managing to save CHF 500 or less a month. When questioned on how to save the state pension system families were not enamoured with any of the suggested solutions, which included higher taxes, later retirement or lower pensions. 39% viewed none of these as an
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A survey published this week by the organisation Pro Familia shows that 52% of families across Switzerland are struggling to make ends meet.
For many families in Switzerland, money is tight or insufficient to cover all living expenses. The percentage finding themselves in this position rose from 47% to 52%. The rising cost of health insurance was the biggest challenge cited by most of those surveyed.
Regarding saving, 30% said they were unable to save any money and a further 37% reported managing to save CHF 500 or less a month. When questioned on how to save the state pension system families were not enamoured with any of the suggested solutions, which included higher taxes, later retirement or lower pensions. 39% viewed none of these as an acceptable solution.
This year’s survey also showed families in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland were particularly stretched financially to the point where some (40%) are forgoing having more children due to the lack of money.
Those living in French- and Italian-speaking Switzerland generally suffer from higher health insurance premiums and taxes. These are the most common types of delinquent debts in Switzerland. So among families that are struggling they are likely to be financial stressors.
The survey also shows how the problem extends beyond those on low incomes. Many middle-income families are affected.
49% of the families surveyed said they were considering increasing their workload. According to Philippe Gnaegi, director of Pro Familia, there is sufficient demand in the labour market to absorb this. However, the cost and availability of childcare is often an insurmountable hurdle. The number of families reporting not using external childcare rose from 37% to 50%, something that seems to be associated with the high cost of it.
Switzerland’s tradition of sending children home from school at lunchtimes is another challenge.
At the same time, 80% of families are satisfied with the quality of family life, a percentage that rose slightly from the year before. In addition, 63% were happy with their work/life balance and 65% were happy with measures taken by their employers to facilitate this.
More on this:
Pro famila article (in French) – Take a 5 minute French test now
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