Swiss aged 18-25 are more likely than other age groups to get into debt and find it hard to get back out again, according to credit management service Intrum Justitia.
The area in which these debtors owe most – SFr468 ($530) on average – is for subscriptions for their mobile phones and the internet.
Other areas where they are pushed into in the red are health bills (SFr254) and online shopping (SFr106).
Young men are almost twice as likely as young women to rack up debt shopping on line, but only about half as likely as young women to be in debt to the doctor.
The company analysed 200,000 cases of debt collection over five years. Its first study, Radar 2011, was published on Monday. It says only 53 per cent of those in debt in the youngest age group had managed to pay off their debts five years later.
swissinfo.ch and agencies