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INCOME

Revealed: How Swiss households spend their money

Unavoidable expenses like taxes and insurance eat up nearly a third of all household income, new data shows. But where does the rest of the money go?

Published: 19 November 2018 20:56 CET
Updated: 6 March 2021 16:53 CET
Revealed: How Swiss households spend their money
Geneva's Rue de Marché shopping street. File photo: Depositphotos

New data from Switzerland’s Federal Statistics Office (FSO) reveals what the average Swiss household spent in 2016. Here’s a breakdown: 

1) The average monthly disposal income for Swiss households was 7,124 Swiss francs (€6,265) in 2016. However, 59 percent of households had less disposable income than this. The average number of people per household was 2.1 but the FSO noted single-income households were often worse off as costs could not be shared.

2) Income from jobs made up most of gross household income in 2016 (75 percent).

3) Disposable income was measured as gross household income minus unavoidable expenses including taxes, pension and social welfare contributions as well as compulsory basic health insurance.

These unavoidable expenses ate up 27.4 percent of gross household income in 2016, or an average 2,751 francs a month.

Read also: Swiss salaries- bankers no longer the biggest earners

Broken down, taxes comprised 11.5 percent of unavoidable expenses (1,153 francs a month) while compulsory basic health insurance swallowed up 6.2 percent (626 francs).

4) The average Swiss household also gave out 141 francs a month for extra, top-up health insurance and 190 francs for other insurance policies.

5) The average monthly outlay for accommodation and energy bills was 1,476 francs, which was 14.7 percent of gross household income.

6) Swiss households spent an average 632 francs a month on food and non-alcoholic drinks in 2016 (6.3 percent of gross disposable income). Alcohol and tobacco spending totalled an average 106 francs each month.

7) Clothes and shoes: in 2016, households spend an average 210 francs a month on clothes and shoes (2.1 percent of gross disposable income). Of this, 86 francs went towards women’s clothing, 50 francs towards men’s clothing and 42 francs on shoes.

8) Transport costs used up an average 7.7 percent of gross household income the year before last, totalling 770 francs a month, while the average entertainment and leisure spend was 542 francs monthly.

9) The average household managed to save 1,551 francs a month in 2016 or 15.5 percent of gross household income. But the FSO noted households with an income of less than 5,000 francs a month (the lowest income category) often gave out more than they spent. This is because 61 percent of these low-earning households were home to pensioners, many of who supplement their income by drawing on their assets.

Read also: Top of the heap: Switzerland’s ‘richest’ places by purchasing power.

EMPLOYMENT

Almost one in ten live in poverty in Switzerland: Report

More than eight percent of Switzerland’s population live in poverty, while 12 percent struggle to make ends meet.

Published: 19 February 2021 09:48 CET
Almost one in ten live in poverty in Switzerland: Report
A number if people in Switzerland can't make the ends meet. Photo by Depositphotos

A study released by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Thursday shows that 8.7 percent of Switzerland’s public – around 735,000 people – live in poverty, which is defined at 2,279 francs per month on average for a single person, and 3,976 francs per month for two adults and two children.

When adjusted for purchasing power, this threshold is the second-highest in Europe, topped only by Luxembourg.

 

The numbers are for 2019, so the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is not yet included in the data.

The poverty rate in Switzerland is the highest it has been since 2014, the study found. 

Most financial difficulties were experienced by foreign nationals, people living in single-parent households, people without training, and those living in households impacted by unemployment, FSO reports.

Here are some of the study’s other findings:

  • For the 10 percent of the population with the lowest wages, this income was less than 25,868 francs in 2019. The median income has remained stable at around 50,000 francs. 
  • The poverty rate for the employed labour force was 4.2 percent in 2019. About 155,000 people were living below the poverty line, even though they were in paid work.
  • Just over 12.2 of the population said they had difficulty making ends meet, and 20.7 percent were unable pay an unforeseen expense of 2,500 francs in the space of a month . Of these, 15.1 percent had at least one payment arrears.

READ MORE: Switzerland’s economy forecast to recover 'from summer onwards' 

On the positive side, the country’s general standard of living remains among the highest in Europe.

It is estimated on the basis of the median disposable income, after adjusting for differences in price levels in various countries. 

In Switzerland, this income was 2.8 times higher than in Greece, 1.6 times higher than in Italy, 1.3 times higher than in France, and 1.2 times higher than in Germany and in Austria.

Despite the high price level in Switzerland, the standard of living was higher in Switzerland than in most of the EU countries.


 

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