Cost of living: are we heading towards a social crisis?
Health insurance premiums, electricity, food, rent, transport: living in Switzerland is becoming more and more expensive. So expensive that the middle classes are also feeling the impact of the rising costs. Are we heading towards a social crisis? Join the discussion!
Many tenants will have to pay more for their flat or house by the end of October, as landlords pass on the higher mortgage interest rate and inflation to the rents. And as we now know, health insurance premiums will rise due to the significant increase in healthcare costs by an average of 8.7% in 2024. At the same time, wages have risen less than inflation which has led to employees having lost purchasing power in the last three years. All in all, things don’t look very bright for Swiss households.
Asked about this on SRF’s “Samstagsrundschau”, Economics Minister Guy Parmelin referred to the premium reduction and other state aid for people with little money: “I know that some are reaching their financial limits.” That’s what the state welfare system is for, he added.
However, the 2024 premium increase, for example, also affects those who barely receive any premium reduction. This means that, additionally to people living on a low income, the household budgets of the middle classes are once again severely strained.
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We want to know your opinion on the matter. With its “dialogue” service, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), SWI swissinfo.ch’s parent company, offers you a thematic selection of articles on the the rising cost of living in Switzerland. With content from all over Switzerland, translated into the four national languages and English.
>>> Click here to go to “dialogueExternal link“.
As part of its “dialogue” offer, the SBC lets you share your ideas on its online discussion forum, which is moderated – your comments are not automatically published in order to avoid harassment, insults and trolls – and translated into the four national languages and English. How much does inflation concern you personally? Are you worried about the rising costs in everyday life? Should wages be (more) adapted to inflation? And is there a need for a fairer distribution of the burdens?
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