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COST OF LIVING

Families in Switzerland ‘having fewer children’ due to financial worries

Many families in Switzerland are struggling to make ends meet as the cost of living increases, according to a new study.

Published: 14 March 2024 11:54 CET
A family
Families in Switzerland are worrying about money more. Image by Pexels from Pixabay

The increasing cost of everyday goods, rising health insurance premiums, and higher rents – almost everything has become pricier in Switzerland in recent months.

Now a new study has shone a light on how families are feeling the pinch. The Family Barometer 2024, which was carried out by Pro Familia Switzerland and pension specialists at Pax, found that middle class families are affected as well as those with lower incomes. 

“It’s not just low-income earners, but also the middle class who have long had to adjust their everyday lives,” said Phillippe Gnaegi, Director of Pro Familia Switzerland.

Over half of those surveyed (52 percent) stated that their income was not enough or only just enough to live on.

READ ALSO: Just how ‘rich’ is Switzerland’s middle class?

The financial situation is more strained for families in French-speaking Switzerland and Ticino than in German-speaking Switzerland.

Saving is not an option for almost a third of respondents. “If a child has to go to the dentist unexpectedly, it’s hard to pay the bill,” said Gnaegi, adding that falling into debt is a particular worry.

Health insurance premiums are clearly the most important issue for families in Switzerland, followed by higher consumer prices and inflation in general. In contrast, the issues of climate change, environmental protection, and energy supply have taken a back seat, and the coronavirus pandemic is practically no longer a concern for families.

READ ALSO: How you can save money on healthcare in Switzerland

Families are foregoing more children

To counteract these financial concerns, just under half of families are considering increasing their workload.

They are cutting back on holidays, restaurant visits and leisure activities such as the cinema and visiting museums. Some are even giving up having another child – around 15 percent of respondents cite costs as the main reason for not having more children. For 26 percent, the costs are at least one of several reasons.

Most families see more financial resources and support as the most important factors for improving their family life. This view is particularly strong among single-parent households and households with an income of up to CHF 120,000. More free time with the family and a lower level of stress would also greatly benefit family life, respondents said. 

READ ALSO : Can a family in Switzerland live well on a median salary? 

Respondents were fairly pessimistic about the future. A total of 79 percent expect the situation for families in Switzerland in general to deteriorate and 43 percent do not feel adequately protected in the event of a job loss.

The proportion of families expecting a sharp deterioration is particularly high in Ticino, among single-parent households and among households with an income of up to CHF 100,000.

The charity Caritas has also raised concerns.

“1.25 million people in Switzerland are at risk of poverty,” said Niels Jost from Caritas, who added that wages need to be higher and health insurance premiums adjusted to help out families. 

Working from home makes it easier to combine family and career

But it’s not all gloomy news. At 80 percent, the vast majority of families in Switzerland are still satisfied with their family life overall. 

Meanwhile, around 65 percent of respondents said they are satisfied with their work-life balance. Unsurprisingly, satisfaction tends to increase with higher income and is lower on average for families with babies and very young children. 

Opportunities to organise working hours flexibly and to work from home contribute most to the compatibility of family and career, the study found.

Families in German-speaking Switzerland and Ticino prioritise this point more than families in French-speaking Switzerland. Respondents with children up to the age of 12 and those in the higher income groups also prioritised the compatibility of work and family life more strongly.

Around 2,100 families living all over Switzerland were surveyed for the Family Barometer 2024 in November 2023. 

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SHOPPING

REVEALED : Are ‘discount’ supermarkets in Switzerland really cheaper?

Lidl, Aldi and Denner claim their prices beat those of large Swiss retailers. But is this really the case?

Published: 18 April 2024 11:40 CEST
REVEALED : Are ‘discount’ supermarkets in Switzerland really cheaper?

Common consumer goods (except one) are typically more expensive in Switzerland than in neighbour countries — sometimes by much.

This includes food.

READ ALSO: Why Switzerland is the most expensive country in Europe

That is especially the case of largest Swiss chains, Migros and Coop, while Denner, Lidl, and Aldi say their food prices are significantly lower.

To find out whether this claim is actually true, journalists from RTS public broadcaster’s consumer programme went shopping in each of these supermarkets. 

They purchased the same 30 products in each of the five supermarkets on the same day, to ensure that the price comparison is as accurate as possible.

Not what you’d expect

In each of the stores, the investigators purchased only the lowest priced items from the supermarkets’ budget lines.

It turned out that most money was spent at Denner, widely considered to be one of the lowest-priced supermarkets.

The total for the 30 items came to 181.67 francs — more than was spent at the country’s more expensive stores, Migros and Coop, where identical basket of goods cost 170.37 and 167.82 francs, respectively.

(That, in itself, is surprising as well, because Migros typically has lower prices than Coop).

As for the other two supermarkets, these purchases cost 166.59 francs at Aldi and 162.05 at Lidl.

So the difference in price between Migros and Coop versus Aldi and Lidl is minimal. But what is even more surprising is that the cost of groceries at ‘cheap’ Denner is actually highest of the lot, by between 11 and nearly 20 francs.

Migros and Coop performed quite well in the comparison survey because most of the items purchased in those stores came from their budget lines, M-Budget and Prix-Garantie, respectively, both of which were introduced to compete with Aldi and Lidl.

But how important is price? Patrick Krauskopf, a professor of anti-trust law, told RTS: “German, French, English, Spanish and American consumers pay a lot of attention to price. In Switzerland, consumers place more emphasis on quality of service. Price is almost secondary.

“Distributors have realised this and have stopped competing fiercely on price.”

Big versus small

While this particular analysis focused on supermarket chains, another survey, conducted at the end of 2023, looked at prices in small grocery shops. 

Common logic has it that it is cheaper to shop in supermarkets than a local corner store, because big retailers purchase products in large quantities, which means lower prices for consumers.

However, prices in some local shops were found to be “up to 30 percent cheaper than Migros and Coop.” 

The reason is that in order to cut costs, small grocers may buy their products from the most cost-effective suppliers, a tactic which includes importing some items.

Another reason for lower prices is that unlike major supermarkets, which ‘pretty up’ their stores for better presentation of products, these small retailers are ‘no-frill’ shops. This means little money is invested in décor, so there are no extra costs to pass on to consumers.

 READ ALSO: Why it might be cheaper to avoid the big supermarkets in Switzerland
 

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