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GENEVA

Ten things Geneva residents take for granted

If you are a longtime Geneva resident, chances are you are no longer appreciating how special some of these things are.

Published: 22 October 2021 09:21 CEST
Updated: 26 May 2022 09:48 CEST
Lake Geneva is one of the things that should not be taken for granted.
The city of Geneva - including the Jet D'Eau. Photo by Lukas Blaskevicius on Unsplash

If you live in Switzerland’s second-largest city, you have probably heard complaints ranging from “too expensive” to “too many French people here”.

However, you don’t need to look far or long to find good things about Geneva — the kind of things that residents (or visitors to the city) should not overlook.

Here are ten things you might (but should not) take for granted.

A melting pot of nationalities

Of all of Switzerland’s cities, Geneva is the most international.

Some 42 percent of residents are foreign nationals, giving the city a distinct cosmopolitan flavour. For that reason, it is much easier for foreigners to integrate and “feel at home” in Geneva than, say, in a small community where the vast majority of residents are native Swiss.

READ MORE: Zurich versus Geneva: Six big differences between Switzerland’s two biggest cities

Proximity to France

As Geneva lies right on the French border, shopping in the neighbouring communities in France has become a popular and frequent activity.

Cars with Geneva license plates parked in front of French supermarkets are a commonplace sight.

As food and many other products are cheaper across the border, the “shopping tourism” allows Genevans to save quite a bit of money.

MAPS: The best commuter towns when working in Geneva

Local communities

True, Geneva is big (by Swiss standards) city of just over 620,000 people, yet it doesn’t have the hustle and bustle of a large urban centre.

Rather, it conveys a “homey” feeling of a smaller town thanks to the various districts and neighbourhoods that make up this city, such as the Old Town, Eaux-Vives, Plainpalais, and Carouge.

READ MORE: Ten reasons why Geneva is a great place to live

Important role in world history

Geneva has played a major part in international diplomacy and politics, starting with the creation of the League of Nations in 1920 to resolve international disputes.

Currently, dozens of United Nations and other international organisations are headquartered in Geneva, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), World Trade Organisation (WTO), and International Labour Organisation (ILO).

READ MORE: Can I rent my apartment on Airbnb in Geneva and what are the rules?

…and speaking of history

You can’t speak of Geneva’s past without mentioning that it is the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross, founded in 1863 by a local doctor Henri Dunant.

The history of this humanitarian movement is documented in the Red Cross Museum, located just steps away from the United Nations building (Palais des Nations).

Employment opportunities

A number of big multinational corporations are headquartered in Geneva, which means there are many job opportunities for skilled professionals.

READ MORE: Five quiet places to escape the bustle of Geneva

The canton is also home to some iconic Swiss companies, such as Rolex and Patek Philippe watches.

Plus, it is an important science hub, as the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), the famed home of the Large Hadron Collider, is here as well.

 Swiss watch manufacturer Rolex is located in Geneva. Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

Public transportation

Geneva’s extensive network of trams and trolleybuses covers not only the city and canton, but also the neighbouring French communities, known as “Grande Genève” (Greater Geneva).

So it is easy to leave the car behind and go practically anywhere in the city and surrounding areas by public transport.

Léman Express train connects Geneva with French towns. Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

READ MORE: Geneva’s new regional cross-border trains to run all night on weekend

Excellent health care

Generally speaking, all Swiss cities provide high-quality medical services to their residents, but Genevans are lucky to have a major public medical facility on their turf.

The university hospital (HUG), which is not only the largest in Switzerland, but also one of the biggest in Europe, has a number of top specialists in their fields.

There are also private hospitals in Geneva, including Hôpital de la Tour.

READ MORE: Geneva hospitals call for volunteers as Covid-19 virus surges

Lake Geneva

Known here as Lac Léman, the 73-km-long, crescent-shaped lake is an integral part of Geneva, stretching all the way into the foothills of the Alps in Vaud to the east and France’s Haute-Savoie region to the south.

In the summer, a number of Geneva’s lakeside beaches are popular cooling-off and swimming spots for the city residents.

Swimming in Lake Geneva on a hot summer day is a treat. Photo; Haley Phelps, Unsplash

READ MORE: Five quiet places to escape the bustle of Geneva

Getting away from it all

Geneva is only one of three Swiss cities (the others are Zurich and Basel) that has an international airport.

This means travelling abroad is easy and convenient, especially as the airport, Cointrin, is located right in the city.

READ MORE: Ten things Zurich residents take for granted

Think we missed something or disagree about our list? Get in touch at [email protected]. 

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LIVING IN SWITZERLAND

REVEALED: How Switzerland’s native-English speakers are growing in number

Some Swiss cities have higher concentrations of foreign residents than others. A new study reveals where most of them live and interestingly how more and more of them are native English-speakers.

Published: 23 April 2024 15:21 CEST
REVEALED: How Switzerland's native-English speakers are growing in number

Foreigners who move to Switzerland like to settle in the cities.

This is what emerges from a new study published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Tuesday.

Surprisingly, the municipality with the highest number of foreign residents is not Zurich or Geneva, but Kreuzlingen in canton Thurgau, where 56.3 percent of the population are foreigners.

Next is Rorschach in St. Gallen, where just over half (50.6 percent) of residents are foreign.

In terms of regions, however, more towns in the French-speaking part of the country have a high proportion of non-Swiss.

In the first place is the Lausanne suburb of Renens, where 49.3 percent of inhabitants are foreign.

It is followed by Geneva (49.2 percent) and its districts Meyrin (45.4 percent) and Vernier (44.8 percent). Next are Vaud municipalities of Montreux (44.2 percent) and Yverdon (37.7 percent).

The study doesn’t indicate why exactly so many immigrants move to these particular towns, but generally new arrivals tend to settle in or near places where they work.

Another interesting finding: English language is gaining ground

“If we consider non-national languages, it is striking to see that English has developed significantly,” FSO reports.

“It is today the main language of 8.1 percent of the resident population.”

This has also been shown in another FSO study in March, which indicated that  English is not only the most prevalent foreign language in Switzerland, but in some regions even ‘outperforms’ national languages.

In French-speaking Geneva, for instance, 11.8 percent of the population speak English — more than 5.7 percent who speak Italian. And in the neighbouring Vaud, 9.1 percent of residents speak English, versus 4.9 percent for both German and Italian.

In Basel-City, where the main language is German, 12.5 percent speak English, 6.1 percent Italian, and 5 percent French.

And in Zurich,10.8 percent speak English, versus only 5.8 percent for Italian and 3.2 percent French.

The ‘ winner’ however, is the German-speaking Zug, where 14.1 percent of the population over the age of 15 has English as their primary language. 

READ ALSO : Where in Switzerland is English most widely used? 

What else does the study reveal?

It shows to what extent Switzerland’s population ‘migrated’ from rural areas to cities over the past century.

While only a third of the country’s residents lived in urban regions 100 years ago, the 170 Swiss cities and their agglomerations are now home to three-quarters of the population.

As a result of this evolution, “new cities sprang up, many political and spatial boundaries were moved, and the country became increasingly urban.”

With a population of 427,000, Zurich is still the most populated city, followed by Geneva (204,000) and Basel (174,000).

And there is more: Fewer people practice religion

The proportion of people who feel they belong to a traditional religion is generally falling, FSO found.

This downward trend concerns all religions, but it is strongest among people of the Reformed Evangelical faith.

In six towns in particular — Bussigny, Crissier, and Ecublens (VD), Kloten, and Opfikon (ZH), as well as Oftringen (AR) — the drop was of more than 70 percent.
 
 READ ALSO: Why so many Swiss are quitting the church and taking their money with them

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