A recent survey suggests Switzerland might be losing its attractiveness as a place for foreigners to live and work.
© Denis Linine | Dreamstime.com
Switzerland fell 17 places from 27th to 44th in the ranking of 68 countries done by the networking company Internations.
Switzerland’s overall ranking is a mix of good and bad. 78% of expats in Switzerland said they were generally satisfied with life there.
Top reasons for moving to Switzerland were work and love, with more women (55%) than men (45%) in the sample. The average age of 43.1 was close to the expat average (44.2) with most coming from the USA (10%), Italy (10%) or Germany (9%).
Switzerland’s strong point was quality of life (9th), while its worst scores were for ease of settling in (65th) and cost of living (67th). In the middle were: working abroad (20th), personal finance (32nd) and family life (34th).
Making friends in Switzerland is difficult. 62% of respondents in Switzerland said they found it difficult to make local friends, compared to the worldwide average of just 36%.
High pay explains much of the difference between rankings for personal finance (32nd) and cost of living (67th). 60% reported yearly household income of US$ 100,000 or more, compared to a worldwide average of 24%. 70% of expats said they were generally satisfied with their financial situation, with 21% saying their disposable income was generally not enough to cover the costs of everyday life, a result close to the global average of 22%.
Switzerland’s family life ranking (34th) was dragged down by childcare, which 61% said was hard to find and 74% found unaffordable. On the other hand 81% considered the quality of Swiss education to be generally good, with 43% describing it as excellent. Over half of expat parents in Switzerland (56%) send their children to a local state school.
Swiss nationals living abroad mirrored some of the views expressed by expats in Switzerland. 83% of Swiss living outside Switzerland said they were satisfied with life abroad and only 37% said they were likely to return. Top reasons for leaving Switzerland were job postings, love and improved quality of life. Most making the move (64%) earned less than they had in Switzerland. Swiss expats were 50.9 years old on average, higher than the average expat (44.2) and fairly likely (26%) to be retired. The most popular destinations were Thailand (8%), USA (5%) and Germany (4%). Many held a postgraduate degree (39%) or a PhD (8%).
The survey collected responses form 18,135 expats of 178 nationalities living in 187 countries.
More on this:
Internations survey 2018 (in English)
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