One in seven Swiss pensioners lives in poverty, study says

Elderly women are more likely to fall into the poverty trap in Switzerland. Christof Schuerpf

Every seventh person over the age of 65 in Switzerland does not have enough money make ends meet, according to a study on the financial health of the elderly.

Some 46,000 Swiss pensioners have already fallen into the poverty trap and a further 295,000 are in danger of joining them, the study reveals. The official poverty line is drawn at CHF2,279 ($2,300) per month to pay for rent, health insurance, clothes and food.

“Every fifth older person in Switzerland is acutely at risk of poverty or already poor,” Alexander Widmer, of the Pro Senectute organisation that champions the rights of the elderly, told the SonntagsZeitung.

Widmer added that the stigma of asking for help in wealthy Switzerland is making the poverty problem worse because some people are ashamed to ask for help.

The elderly finances study was carried out by Pro Senectute with the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and the University of Geneva.

It found levels of poverty to be widely diverse according to each canton. But poverty is more prevalent among elderly women, people with a migrant background and in rural areas.

“We expect poverty in old age to increase. We are living longer, part-time work is in vogue, and now prices are rising too,” said Widmer.