Swiss perspectives in 10 languages

More solidarity among the Swiss, according to a survey

ngo charity
Keystone / Salvatore Di Nolfi

Solidarity in Switzerland has increased significantly since the Covid-19 pandemic. These are the findings of Swiss Solidarity's latest solidarity barometer.

The results of the survey published on Monday show that the Swiss population shows marked solidarity across all generations. Women show slightly more solidarity than men.

In German- and French-speaking Switzerland, solidarity is primarily synonymous with helping family members and neighbours. In Italian-speaking Ticino, solidarity mainly means helping people in need.

For the Swiss population, a sense of duty and the desire for social cohesion are the main reasons for taking action in solidarity. In Italian-speaking Switzerland, individual motivation is even more pronounced than elsewhere.

Discretion required

The people of German, French and Italian-speaking Switzerland believe that solidarity should not be flaunted in broad daylight. It calls for modesty and discretion.

According to Swiss Solidarity, solidarity has increased since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, people’s perception of relationships with their fellow human beings remains predominantly negative.

According to Swiss Solidarity, there was a wave of solidarity shortly after the outbreak of war in Ukraine. However, this has considerably weakened over time.

Differences were also noted between 2021, the year of the first solidarity barometer, and 2023. This year, a third of those questioned said they made a donation “rather spontaneously”. Two years ago, the figure was 42%.

This year too, just over a quarter of those questioned said they made donations “fairly regularly”, compared with a fifth two years ago.

The Solidarity Barometer is based on a survey commissioned by the Swiss Broadcasting Service. Between August 20 and September 12, more than 3,000 people from different language regions were questioned. The responses were compiled and interpreted by the Sotomo research institute and the Centre for Philanthropic Studies at the University of Basel.

External Content
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished… We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.
Daily news

Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox.

Daily

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.


This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. You can find them here

If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.

Most Read
Swiss Abroad

Most Discussed

News

Gestational diabetes increases the risk of adult-onset diabetes

More

Gestational diabetes found to increase risk of adult-onset diabetes

This content was published on A research team from the Lake Geneva region has identified persistent dysfunctions in glucose regulation in women with gestational diabetes. In the long term, this can increase the risk of adult-onset diabetes by up to ten times.

Read more: Gestational diabetes found to increase risk of adult-onset diabetes
The Graubünden village of Brienz has to be evacuated by midday on Sunday

More

Swiss village must be evacuated by midday on Sunday

This content was published on The village of Brienz-Brinzauls in eastern Switzerland, which is threatened by a rockfall, must be evacuated by 1pm on Sunday. All residents must leave the village.

Read more: Swiss village must be evacuated by midday on Sunday
Former judge in Chur found guilty of rape

More

Former Swiss judge found guilty of rape

This content was published on A former judge of the Graubünden Administrative Court in eastern Switzerland has been found guilty of rape, sexual harassment and threatening a former trainee.

Read more: Former Swiss judge found guilty of rape

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR

SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR