Poll: Switzerland is rather sceptical about the future

About 51,000 people participated in the opinion poll "How are you, Switzerland?", which was carried out by the SBC. Keystone/Gaetan Bally

Overall, people in Switzerland and the Swiss Abroad are doing well. But they are more pessimistic about the future than they were a year ago. These are the main conclusions of the second edition of the “How are you, Switzerland?” opinion poll, a major survey carried out by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), SWI swissinfo.ch’s parent company.

“Carefree living in Switzerland is over and the world is going downhill.” 71% of the people living in Switzerland and the Swiss Abroad agree with this statement. Furthermore, only 26% believe that children today in Switzerland can grow up more carefree than any other generation before them. This is 7% less than last year.

Regarding the future, the Swiss population and the Swiss Abroad have become more pessimistic over the past year. This is another of the conclusions from the major opinion poll “How are you, Switzerland?”, which was conducted for the second time by the research institute gfs.bern on behalf of the SBC. In all, 51,000 people participated in the survey and answered about 300 questions on all aspects of life (see box).

Satisfied – for now

The contrast between the present and the future stands out clearly in the poll results. As far as life in Switzerland today is concerned, the verdict is mostly positive: 59% of the respondents say they are satisfied with their lives (scores 8-10 on a scale of 1-10). Although the cost of living has risen compared to last year, two-thirds of the respondents said their financial situation is only slightly or not at all a burden.

Sense of home

Gerhard Pfister, President of the Centre Party, recently expressed concerns to the Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) newspaper about the high level of immigration and warned of how this was calling many people’s “sense of home” into question.

According to the “How are you, Switzerland?” poll, people’s attachment to their own country has increased. In all, 68% of respondents believe that most of their values are shared by the rest of Switzerland, 5% more than in 2023. The proportion of those who identify with Switzerland or their own canton has also increased, while fewer respondents than last year said they identified with Europe or the world.

A slim majority of respondents do not see the large numbers of foreign nationals in Switzerland to be a threat to Swiss identity. When asked which factors are decisive for Swiss identity, more than 95% said respecting institutions and laws and speaking a national language. Only 48% believe that being born in Switzerland is a decisive factor for Swiss identity.

“For a clear majority of the respondents, financial worries are a hearsay problem,” says Urs Bieri from gfs.bern. However, around 35% say their financial situation is somewhat or very stressful, which is slightly higher than last year.

Read up on how the Swiss Abroad are doing according to the SBC survey:

For Swiss residents and Swiss citizens living abroad, happiness stems mainly from their private lives. They are slightly less satisfied with their working life than last year. Stress and the pace of work are the main causes for concern in the workplace. In all, 83% think that more people are overwhelmed by these issues, an increase of 11% on the previous year. And 58% of working people believe they would feel better if they worked less.

Fear of losing prosperity

While there are generally positive attitudes towards the present, scepticism prevails when looking into the future. Only 14% of respondents believe they will be better off economically in the next few years, while 37% expect the opposite. Rising health insurance premiums are the main cause of concern among those surveyed. However, the issue of war is also a greater concern than last year, as are security and terrorism.

“A fear of loss is manifesting itself here,” says Urs Bieri from gfs.bern. “We are currently living at a very high level and people fear that this won’t last forever.”

Answer the following questions and compare your views with people living in Switzerland and the Swiss Abroad:

The losses of the Green parties in last autumn’s parliamentary election may suggest lower interest in environmental questions but two-thirds of poll respondents still see climate change as a serious problem that calls for immediate action. Asked what Switzerland should do to combat climate change, 72% said reduce emissions at home and not support projects to reduce emissions abroad.

What is your opinion, are we too pessimistic about the future? Join the discussion on the SBC debate platform “dialogue”!

The methodology of the survey

The results of “How are you, Switzerland?” are based on a representative survey of 51,182 Swiss residents and Swiss Abroad. It was conducted by the research institute gfs.bern in May and June 2024 on behalf of the SBC. This is the second time this survey has been carried out. Compared to the previous year’s version, some of the questions were new or different, but most were identical.

In all, 3,000 respondents were selected from a online panel by gfs.bern in order to obtain a representative sample of the Swiss population (16 years and older). The sample was stratified according to language region and proportioned according to age and gender.

The other respondents completed the questionnaire online. They were invited to do so via the SBC channels, but decided for themselves whether or not they wanted to participate. This survey method is not representative. Representativeness is achieved by means of specific data weighting and data validation procedures. The questionnaire consisted of around 300 questions. To ensure that an interview did not exceed approx. 20 minutes, gfs.bern did not ask the same questions to all respondents. The sampling error is +/- 1.8 % at 50:50 and 95 % probability.

Adapted from German by Claire Micallef