Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
Are you already retired, or are you still thinking about how and where you will spend your retirement? Every year, the Global Retirement Index ranks countries according to the well-being of people whose working lives are behind them. Switzerland generally performs well, but in recent years, as we shall see, it has been losing ground.
Enjoy the read!
Switzerland, a country for pensioners? Yes, but less so than in the past. In the Global Retirement Index, which measures people’s well-being after the end of their working lives, Switzerland slips to fourth place in 2026, having ranked first in 2024 and third in 2025.
The top three positions in the ranking compiled by asset manager Natixis Investment are occupied by Norway, followed by Ireland and the Netherlands. Experts at the French financial institution base their assessments on sub-indices covering pension finances, material well-being, health and quality of life.
Switzerland performs particularly well in health, climbing three places this year to second position behind Luxembourg. In terms of life expectancy, it even ranks first, as Blick points out. The downside is healthcare costs. Thirty-nine per cent of respondents in Switzerland cite them as their greatest financial burden, compared with a global average of 27%.
The sharpest decline for Switzerland comes in the category of material well-being, where it ranks 15th. The study specifically points to a worsening labour market situation following US tariffs and the strong Swiss franc. In terms of pensioners’ quality of life, the Switzerland ranks eighth. It has also slipped from second to third place in the pension finances sub-index, which measures the economic strength, macroeconomic stability and institutional security of the environment in which retirees live and receive their benefits.
Extreme weather events and drought characterised the summer of 2026 in Switzerland, placing agriculture under considerable pressure. The organisation Grandine Svizzera has published its estimate of the damage caused to crops by these conditions.
April and August were the driest and hottest months recorded since 1901, leading to significant crop losses. In addition, violent thunderstorms and hailstorms damaged crops across large parts of the country, according to the national hail insurance company.
Around 5,800 claims are expected from affected farmers, amounting to CHF59.2 million in damage to insured crops. Hail accounts for 48% of claims, while drought is responsible for 45%.
For comparison, damage over the same period amounted to CHF20.9 million in 2025 and CHF38.6 million in 2024. “This year’s drought clearly demonstrates how much agriculture is suffering from the consequences of climate change,” said Grandine Svizzera.
The autumn parliamentary session continues. Key decisions taken today concern naturalisation, space policy, disturbances during demonstrations and the “Swiss Made” label.
Like the House of Representatives in April, the Senate today rejected the Democracy Initiative by 34 votes to nine, with two abstentions. The initiative calls for the current ten-year legal residence requirement for Swiss citizenship to be halved. Contrary to the wishes of the left-green bloc, lawmakers also decided not to draw up a counter-proposal.
The House of Representatives has taken a step towards bringing more order to the cosmos, unanimously adopting a new law on space operations that, among other things, regulates the operational requirements for Swiss satellites for the first time.
The Senate also followed the House of Representative’s lead by approving a motion allowing public authorities, in cases of serious disturbances and acts of violence during demonstrations, to recover all or part of the costs of intervention and security measures from organisers. The government is now tasked with preparing the necessary legal framework.
By approving a motion tabled by Centre Party Senator Fabio Regazzi, the Senate has also called for stronger protection of the “Swiss Made” label. The request seeks to overturn a recent decision by the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property (IPI) which authorised the sportswear brand On to use the Swiss cross on products manufactured in Asia.
The media are also continuing to discuss the decision taken yesterday by the Senate to require UBS to back 90% of its foreign branches with equity capital. Contrary to what was reported in yesterday’s press review, UBS shares closed 1.71% lower on Wednesday.
Black Forest gateau and fewer restaurant visits than many would like. The Swiss culinary institution Betty Bossi has analysed how people in Switzerland celebrate their birthdays, revealing a significant gap between wishes and reality.
“No other wish goes unfulfilled quite like this one: ‘I don’t want to have to cook, I want to be served’,” Betty Bossi writes. One in two people in Switzerland would prefer to celebrate their birthday in a restaurant, yet only 32% actually do so.
There are several reasons for this, the magazine explains. Budget considerations play a role, but so do family commitments. Only 27% of people aged 36 to 45, an age when childcare often shapes daily life, celebrate in a restaurant, compared with 42% of those aged 56 to 65. Just 10% would like to spend part of their birthday in the kitchen, yet 21% end up cooking during their own celebration.
The undisputed queen of Swiss birthday cakes is the Black Forest gateau, named as a favourite by 20% of the 2,000 survey respondents. In canton Ticino, that figure rises to 31%. As someone originally from the canton, I can confirm its popularity. The debate over whether a Black Forest gateau should contain sour cherries in syrup (yuck!) remains particularly lively south of the Alps.
Translated from Italian, sub-edited by Simon Bradley
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