Switzerland is once again ranked the wealthiest country on earth, but does this mean that every resident is a millionaire, as the study suggests?
This is the result of the UBS Global Wealth Report released on June 18th.
Switzerland earned this title, again, based on the average wealth per adult which, according to the report, stands at 687,166 USD — that is, 563, 900 Swiss francs.
You may be shaking your head in disbelief just about now, thinking that this is not a realistic figure or an accurate representation of assets each person living in Switzerland has.
Does this mean that the study got it all wrong?
Yes and no.
As all studies, surveys, and rankings, the UBS Global Wealth Report is based on certain criteria, to the exclusion of all others.
For instance, it looked not at the population at large, but at the number of millionaires in each country.
Switzerland happens to have the highest number of millionaires (and multi-millionaires as well as billionaires) in proportion to the overall population — 12.7 percent.
This means, logically, that 87.3 percent of the country’s adult residents are not millionaires, but the study took the overall wealth of the minority and divided it by the number of people living in Switzerland, obtaining the nearly 564,000 francs that each person in the country theoretically has.
(The obvious flaw in this approach is that the second-wealthiest country in the UBS study is the United States, with per-capita assets of 620, 600 USD. This is a totally unrealistic number, given the huge income and wealth disparity in the US).
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But back to Switzerland
If you take the study’s result at its face value, you may assume that everyone in Switzerland is wealthy and there are no poor people here at all.
That is far from truth.
According to the Federal Statistical Office (FSO), 8 percent of people in Switzerland were living below the official poverty line in 2023 — the latest figures available to date.
This means 2,315 francs per month for a single person, and 4,051 francs for two adults living with two children.
(To be fair, low-income people receive government aid in the form of health insurance and housing subsidies, so they are not, strictly speaking, living only from their wages).
Then there is the middle class, whose income falls between the low-earners and the wealthy.
In this sense, this segment of the population is…in a class of its own. They are neither poor nor very wealthy which, all things considered, is not a bad place to be.
Nearly 60 percent (57.6 percent to be exact) of the permanent resident population fall under this category, according to the FSO.
To be part of the middle class in Switzerland (again, according to FSO figures), you must have an annual income of between 47,640 and 102,000 francs if you are a single individual; and between 100,000 and 214,400 francs for a for a couple with two children.
READ ALSO: Just how ‘rich’ are Switzerland’s middle class?
Finally, the very wealthy are at the other end of the spectrum.
How much would you need to belong to this very exclusive group?
To be counted among the richest 1 percent of people currently living in Switzerland, you’d need just under 6 million francs in assets — 5,915,493 francs to be exact.
READ ALSO: How much money puts you in Switzerland’s top one percent?
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Let’s get real: How much does it cost to live in Switzerland?
There is no one single answer that fits all.
Overall, rents, property prices, and health insurance in particular are quite expensive.
The actual cost of living is determined by various factors, such as your income of course, but also the actual purchasing power of your salary in the canton and municipality where you live: how much you spend on taxes, health and other insurances, rent or mortgage, and other fixed and variable expenses.
Typically, everything is more expensive in Zurich Geneva, and other large cities than in smaller towns and rural areas.
These articles will give you a good idea of how much everything costs, and how much you need to earn to afford all that:
READ ALSO: Zurich vs Geneva: What’s considered a good salary for foreign workers?
READ ALSO: What’s considered a good salary in Basel for foreign workers?
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In conclusion:
As you can see, Switzerland is not really the wealthiest country in the world, though it will probably maintain this reputation because of surveys based on selective data.
However, Switzerland’s residents have no reason to complain and, in fact, lots to be thankful for on the financial front.
That’s because “the general standard of living in Switzerland remains one of the highest in Europe,” the FSO said.
“This means that despite the high price levels in Switzerland, the population’s financial situation, after deduction of obligatory expenditures, is more comfortable than that of its neighbouring countries and countries in the European Union.”
