Swiss citizens living abroad view Switzerland primarily positively, sometimes even idealising it. But there is also criticism.
Keystone/Christian Beutler
How are the Swiss Abroad doing? They find themselves between performance pressure and retirement. A major SBC opinion poll shows that satisfaction is high but there is criticism regarding politics and the welfare state.
How are you, Switzerland? For the third time in three years, the research institute gfs.bern has conducted a detailed opinion pollExternal link on behalf of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), Swissinfo’s parent company, among the Swiss resident population as well as the Swiss Abroad. The result: the mood of the Swiss population, whether abroad or in Switzerland, is remarkably stable.
Regarding the Swiss Abroad, 84% of respondents said they were satisfied with their lives. By comparison, in 2024 the figure was 82%.
“The data shows that the Swiss Abroad who participated in the survey were mostly socialised in Switzerland. They take fundamental values as well as life satisfaction with them when they move abroad,” says Urs Bieri, co-director of gfs.bern.
Global uncertainties such as wars or the reshaping of international politics are perceived similarly. This is regardless of whether survey respondents live in Switzerland, in a neighbouring country or far away. “Although the storm clouds are still at a distance, they feel them getting closer,” says Bieri.
This is unsettling for many, however not so much for themselves as for children and younger generations.
Division into two groups
As the data from the last SBC survey a year ago already indicated, the Swiss Abroad can be divided into two overarching groups. The first is made up of those who emigrated for work. It is notable that this group feels greater performance pressure than people working in Switzerland.
“People who leave Switzerland due to work often show a higher commitment. They want to push themselves harder,” says Bieri. It is therefore hardly surprising that the Swiss Abroad are more likely to base their choice of profession on advancement and further education opportunities.
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For this group, material values are more important and seen as a reward for their work. “On the other hand, people in Switzerland value time, nature and friendship more,” says Bieri.
The second group amongst the Swiss Abroad are those who spend their retirement outside of Switzerland. “They are over 65 and have a much more relaxed outlook on life – much like their peers in Switzerland,” says Bieri.
In contrast to pensioners in Switzerland, however, they view their financial situation more critically. “Some of them have chosen to retire abroad for financial reasons, as is evident from their answers,” adds Bieri.
Swiss citizens living abroad take a more critical stance when it comes to the social welfare system in Switzerland. While just under 60% of respondents in Switzerland fully or rather agreed with the statement “Thanks to social welfare programmes, no one in Switzerland has to starve or be homeless”, only 45% of the Swiss Abroad shared this opinion.
“I assume some of them have experience of how tough it can be to get by with little money in Switzerland,” says the political scientist.
Staying on the topic of money, the Swiss diaspora seem to be more discreet regarding their own wealth. They are more likely to have savings that even their close relatives don’t know about.
More critical about politics
The Swiss Abroad view Switzerland predominantly with positive feelings, sometimes even idealising the country. This, however, is not the case when it comes to its political system.
This may come as a surprise but although a majority of 59% describe Switzerland’s militia system as a formula for success, approval is significantly lower than among the domestic population (74%).
Individual politicians are also less trusted, as many Swiss Abroad believe that political representatives have become increasingly alienated from the population.
“We can only speculate about the reasons,” says Bieri. The political scientist sees a possible explanation in the experiences of some Swiss expatriates in their new country of residence.
“If you live in a country with more corruption, you might become generally more critical towards politics,” says Bieri. However, this might be only one of several reasons.
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Their experiences in their countries of residence could also be a reason why Swiss living abroad are particularly sensitised to gender role issues. Amongst other things, they increasingly advocate for equal representation of women and men in leadership positions (62% compared to 49% of respondents in Switzerland) and are more critical of the statement that changing gender roles put more pressure on men.
“The element of being a minority could be a factor behind this. It’s a common observation that people in a minority are more sensitised to injustices,” says Bieri.
What is your opinion? Join the debate:
The results of “How are you Switzerland?” are based on a representative survey of 55,006 Swiss residents and Swiss Abroad. A total of 1,196 Swiss citizens living abroad took part in the survey.
It was conducted by the research institute gfs.bern from May 12 to June 15, 2025, on behalf of the SBC. This is the third time in three years that this survey has been carried out. Compared to the versions of previous years, some of the questions were new or different, but most were identical.
In all, 3,000 respondents were selected from an 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 regions 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 they wanted to participate. This survey method is not representative. Representativeness is achieved by means of specific data weighting and data validation procedures.
The sampling error is +/- 1.8% at 50:50 and 95% probability.
Edited by Balz Rigendinger; Adapted from German by Claire Micallef
