Switzerland Today
Dear Swiss Abroad,
The new crime figures for Switzerland are out – and they’re not pretty. Cybercrime and serious violence rose particularly sharply between 2023 and 2024.
Does this mean that Switzerland is less safe? Criminologist Dirk Baier, who heads the Institute for Delinquency and Crime Prevention at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), certainly sees a deterioration, but he also puts things into perspective: “Remember that in 2012 the figures were even higher.”
Digital crime has more than doubled since 2020 and serious violent offences increased by almost 20% between 2023 and 2024. These are the findings of the 2024 police crime statistics published today by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).
Digital crime has more than doubled since 2020 and serious violent offences increased by almost 20% between 2023 and 2024. These are the findings of the 2024 police crime statistics published today by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO).
Since 2020, digital offences have been recorded separately. In four years, they have more than doubled. Most are related to economic cybercrime. Phishing (56.2%) and abuse of personal payment systems or identity theft (104.8%) saw a particularly sharp increase in 2024.
Compared with 2023, serious violent offences jumped by 19.4%. The most notable increases were in serious bodily harm (16.9%) and rape (29.4%). The number of people charged with serious violent offences rose mainly among adults aged over 25 (15.8%) and minors (10.9%).
Offences relating to discrimination and incitement to hatred also increased significantly, by more than 48% between 2023 and 2024. Of these offences, 88.7% relate to racial, ethnic or religious affiliation, while the remaining 11.3% relate to sexual orientation. Homicides, on the other hand, fell by 15.1% last year.
The political left emerged as the big winner of Sunday’s elections in canton Neuchâtel. In Geneva, the left came out on top in the executive but lost its majority on the city parliament.
In Neuchâtel the Social Democrats created a surprise by re-electing its two outgoing cantonal councillors Frédéric Mairy and Florence Nater in the first round – a first for the canton. With the left-wing and right-wing alliances forgoing a second round, Céline Vara from the Greens was elected to the government, which swung to the left.
According to Florence Nater, it was the unity of the Neuchâtel left that paid off in this election: “That’s what we need to remember. It’s a significant collective result.” Political scientist Pascal Sciarini stressed that “this election shows the strength of the left in canton Neuchâtel, which is almost unparalleled elsewhere in Switzerland”.
In Geneva, 45 municipalities voted yesterday. In the city of Geneva, outgoing Social Democrat mayor Christina Kitsos came out well ahead and is the favourite for the second round. The city’s parliament narrowly tipped to the right. The Green Party suffered the biggest loss on Sunday, while the right-wing Swiss People’s Party and the Geneva Citizens’ Movement (MCG) gained strength.
Switzerland’s population continues to grow. Between 2011 and 2023, 1.4 million foreign nationals from the EU or asylum-seekers immigrated to Switzerland and stayed.
Of the roughly 1.4 million people who immigrated and were still in Switzerland at the end of 2023, 173,000, or 13%, came from the asylum sector. The remaining 87% were outside the asylum system. These people come primarily from the EU.
More than half of these people entered Switzerland with a B permit. This status is granted to people from the EU or third countries who work or study here. Short-term residents account for almost 30% of all entries. Their permit, the L permit, generally allows them to work in Switzerland for one year. Finally, just over 40,000 people entered Switzerland with a C permit over a period of 13 years. This entitles the holder to long-term residence.
In addition, almost 90,000 people obtained an S permit, a special protection status. It was activated for the first time in March 2022 for people who had fled Ukraine.
Since US President Donald Trump decided to freeze subsidies to international organisations for 90 days, Geneva’s economy has been wobbling. To what extent can international Geneva really suffer from this decision?
In 2023, governments contributed $46.4 billion (CHF41 billion) to the United Nations system. With almost $13 billion, the United States alone accounted for 28% of total contributions. As canton Geneva is home to 38 headquarters of international organisations, it is particularly affected.
The dependence of UN organisations on the US contribution fluctuates, ranging from barely 2% to over 57% of the budget for the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), for example. Several NGOs are also under threat, starting with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is already in financial difficulty.
However, the United States also benefits from the system. In 2023, it signed contracts worth $1.5 billion with various international organisations. At the top of the list of main beneficiaries are the pharmaceutical giants Pfizer ($94 million in 2023) and Merck & Cie ($91 million in 2023), as well as American Express ($50 million in 2023) and Microsoft ($41 million in 2023).
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