Quarter of Swiss can’t afford a ‘dignified existence’

Only 12% of Swiss are happy borrowing money to buy consumer goods Keystone

One in four people in Switzerland (26%) say they do not have enough money to lead a dignified existence, according to an international debt survey.

Also, a quarter of young parents said they only stayed together because of their poor financial situation. In other words, they couldn’t afford to split up.

The European Consumer Payment Report 2016, published by credit management company Intrum JustitiaExternal link on Monday, questioned 21,317 people in 21 European countries, including Switzerland, online from September 12-26.

One in three Swiss (33%) was worried that after paying their bills the money left over would not suffice. The European average was 39%, also an increase compared with last year’s result of 35%.

“In other words, these results indicate that Europeans’ financial wellbeing have deteriorated since last year,” the authors wrote.

Optimistic Swiss

Other findings in Switzerland – where around 1,000 people aged at least 18 were questioned – included the fact that 42% of Swiss have had periods in life when they were unable to pay their debts and 24% said they sometimes were unable to pay their debts today. These numbers are slightly lower than the survey average.

In addition, the Swiss are more negative than most other countries in the survey when it comes to using payment plans, credit or borrowed money, both for buying consumer goods and for financing holidays. Only 12% think this is not a problem for consumer goods, the lowest among all countries, and 9% for holidays.

Furthermore, Swiss are more positive than the survey average regarding their own financial future. One in three (34%) says their personal financial situation is getting better. They are also more optimistic than average regarding the future of their country. Three in ten Swiss think the economy in Switzerland is getting better.