Fewer Swiss now say they are in good health. Only one in ten describe themselves as feeling very healthy, down from one in five when the insurer CSS began surveying well being in 2020. The decline is steepest among the young. Nearly half of those aged 18 to 35 report poor sleep, alongside exhaustion, loneliness and psychological distress.
This year’s edition of the CSS health survey, carried out by the research firm Sotomo among 2,807 respondents across the country, examined sleep in detail. Just one in five said they had no recurring sleep problems in the past year. Among the youngest adults, seven in ten often felt worn out from lack of rest; nearly half reported difficulty concentrating, and over a third felt less motivated socially or professionally. Stress, screen use and fragile mental health all contribute. Some 42% of young adults rated their psychological condition as fair or poor—the highest of any age group.
Loneliness, too, is rife. Three in ten under-36s said they had recently felt alone, compared with one in eight seniors. The pressures of constant performance add to the burden. Roughly half of all respondents—and nearly 80% of the youngest—feel pushed to be permanently healthy and productive. Digital tools, from fitness apps to wearable trackers, may encourage better habits, but they also intensify the sense of being under scrutiny.
New technologies prompt ambivalence. One in five already use artificial-intelligence chatbots for self-diagnosis, rising to a third among the young. Yet only 18% would trust an AI-generated medical assessment, and many say they would lose confidence in a doctor who relied on AI for diagnosis. Weight-loss injections also divide opinion: 15% say they have tried them or would consider doing so, but nearly two-thirds insist access should be restricted to the obese. Research on extending healthy lifespans, meanwhile, attracts support from half the population, while 43% remain sceptical.
Perhaps most strikingly, the Swiss underestimate the role of lifestyle. Most believe genes matter as much as habits in determining longevity. Scientific evidence, however, suggests lifestyle may be the stronger force. That misperception, the CSS warns, risks leaving people blind to their own power to age well.
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