Basel – the city of Swiss centenarians

Edith Hug, 101, in her room in the Basel “Generationenhaus” (multi-generational home). SRF/Martina Inglin

New statistics show that canton Basel City is the Swiss region with the most 100-year-olds. A portrait of 101-year-old Edith Hug.

Switzerland’s population is ageing rapidly. Since 1950, the number of centenarians has nearly doubled every decade, and since 2018, around 100 centenarians have been added every year.

According to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), the Swiss cantons with the highest proportion of people over 100 are in the north and south of the country, namely cantons Ticino and Basel City.

Edith Hug, from Basel, was born in 1923. “I never thought I’d live this long, but now I have, and it’s a wonderful gift,” she says.

Her living room is full of photographs. One of them is a black-and-white picture of two small girls in dresses: Edith and her sister. She was about six years old at the time, she recalls. The picture was taken in 1929 just ten years before World War Two erupted.

The retired hairdresser has fond memories of the past but believes many things are better today. “Young people can say what they want,” she says. And there are useful things like mobile phones that can send holiday photos, she adds.

She says she can’t really explain the reasons for her longevity but thinks it is probably down to plenty of sleep and good food.

Why so many centenarians in Basel?

Basel’s cantonal doctor, Simon Fuchs, can only speculate on why so many centenarians live locally. “We don’t know the exact reasons. I imagine that good healthcare provision plays a part,” he says.

Basel also has an infrastructure tailored to older people, such as accessible public transport, support services and activities, he notes.

However, an ageing population also brings higher costs for the local authorities. Fortunately, canton Basel City frequently enjoys a strong financial situation thanks to booming tax revenues that generate annual surpluses in the hundreds of millions of Swiss francs.

For the past two years, Edith has lived in a “Generationenhaus” (multi-generational home) in Basel (see infobox below), where young and old, including small children, live together. “I’m always happy to see the little ones. They’re just wonderful.”

The “Generationenhaus” (multi-generational home) in Basel

As the name suggests, different generations live under one roof in the Neubad generation house.

In addition to residential groups with care and nursing for older people, there are also programmes for external senior citizens. Children from four months to 14 years are also part of life at the Generationenhaus where they attend a day-care centre.

The house is run by an association. A new building was opened in 2023.