Swiss increasingly concerned with death

There has been significant growth in the creation of living wills and advance directives in particular. Keystone-SDA

Almost two-thirds of Swiss people are more frequently concerned with death and the issue of living wills and advance healthcare directives. This figure has risen significantly, according to a survey conducted by the Alliance for the Common Good.

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Results published on Friday show that 62% of the 1,014 people surveyed think more intensively about death than they did two years ago. Back then, the figure was 38%.

According to the Alliance, there has been significant growth in the creation of living wills and advance directives in particular. According to the survey, 68% of respondents have already considered a living will, a third more than in 2022. The proportion of those who have drawn up an advance directive has even doubled to 60%.

A similar trend can be observed when it comes to drawing up wills: just over half of those surveyed were actively thinking about writing a will, 32% had already drawn one up and a further 10% planned to do so in the near future.

+ Pandemic pushed more people to write wills

Charitable organisations taken into account

According to the survey, it is not just about providing for the family; more and more people want to know exactly what will happen to their estate after their death. The number of people who include a charitable organisation in their will has risen from 14% in 2022 to 19% in the current year.

Nevertheless, social commitment has not generally declined. According to the survey, just over half of respondents are motivated to get involved in charitable organisations, even if only 27% are actually volunteering at the moment.

The survey was conducted between July 24 and August 5 by the market research institute Demoscope. A total of 1,014 people over the age of 45 were surveyed in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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