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Switzerland: Stay on 'top of the world'

Swiss cities consistently rank among the best places to live in the world, scoring especially high for personal safety, natural beauty, infrastructure and earning potential

Besides the culturally-packed top places in Switzerland, the country has much to offer - from quiet Alpine living to bustling, cosmopolitan Swiss cities. Many find Zurich's high quality of living makes it the best place to live in Switzerland - although it comes as a price - while multi-cultural Geneva and Switzerland's capital city Bern are other Swiss cities often noted in lists of the best cities to live in Switzerland.

Switzerland performs very well in many measures of well-being relative to most other countries in the Better Life Index. Switzerland ranks above the average in subjective well-being, jobs and earnings, income and wealth, health status, social connections, environmental quality, education and skills, work-life balance, housing and personal security, but ranks below average in civic engagement. These rankings are based on available data.

Money, while it cannot buy happiness, is an important means to achieving higher living standards. In Switzerland, the average household net-adjusted disposable income per capita is $37,466 a year, higher than the OECD average of $33,604 a year. There is a considerable gap between the richest and poorest - the top 20 per cent of the population earn nearly five times as much as the bottom 20 per cent.

In terms of employment, 80 per cent of people aged 15 to 64 in Switzerland have a paid job, above the OECD employment average of 68 per cent, and one of the highest rates in the OECD. Some 84 per cent of men are in paid work, compared with 75 per cent of women. In Switzerland, only 0.4 per cent of employees work very long hours, one of the lowest rates in the OECD where the average is 11 per cent.  

Good education and skills are important requisites for finding a job. In Switzerland, 88 per cent of adults aged 25-64 have completed upper secondary education, higher than the OECD average of 78 per cent. This is truer of men than women, as 89 per cent of men have successfully completed high-school compared with 86 per cent of women. In terms of the quality of its educational system, the average student scored 506 in reading literacy, maths and science in the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). This score is higher than the OECD average of 486. On average in Switzerland, girls outperformed boys by 3 points, slightly more than the average OECD gap of 2 points.

In terms of health, life expectancy at birth in Switzerland is 84 years, four years higher than the OECD average of 80 years. Life expectancy for women is 86 years, compared with 82 for men. The level of atmospheric PM2.5 - tiny air pollutant particles small enough to enter and cause damage to the lungs - is 14.5 micrograms per cubic metre, higher than the 13.9 micrograms OECD average. Switzerland performs better in terms of water quality, as 95 per cent of people say they are satisfied with the quality of their water, compared with an OECD average of 81 per cent, and one of the highest rates in the OECD.

Concerning the public sphere, there is a strong sense of community and a moderate level of civic participation in Switzerland, where 93 per cent of people believe that they know someone they could rely on in time of need, more than the OECD average of 89 per cent.  

In general, people in Switzerland are more satisfied with their lives than the OECD average. When asked to rate on a scale from 0 to 10, Swiss people gave it a 7.5 grade on average much higher than the OECD average of 6.5.
It is no secret that Switzerland offers some of the best skiing resorts in the world. Those living in Switzerland have the fortune of having close access to the hundreds of kilometres of well-kept pistes. There are numerous skiing locations in each linguistic region whether you are living in Zurich, Bern or Lugano.

"With increasing globalisation and changing demographic of the workforce - attracting and retaining the right talent is set to be one of the key challenges for businesses over the next five years," commented Ilya Bonic, senior partner and president of Mercer's career business.
 
The country's strong economy is powered by low corporate tax rates, a highly-developed service sector led by financial services and a high-tech manufacturing industry.

Source: OECD Index