‘In Switzerland family policy is the poor relation of social policy’

Almost four out of ten Swiss families would give up having more children because of financial constraints. KEYSTONE/© KEYSTONE / LAURENT GILLIERON

Faced with rising living costs, over half of Swiss families are struggling to make ends meet, according to a survey. The head of Switzerland’s main family organisation is calling for swift political action. 

The second family barometer, published on Thursday by umbrella association Pro Familia Switzerland and Pax, a pension insurance company targeting families, reveals the increasingly precarious situation of families at a time when prices are rising across the board. 

Former politician Philippe Gnaegi is currently head of Pro Familia KEYSTONE/© KEYSTONE / JEAN-CHRISTOPHE BOTT

Philippe Gnaegi, director of Pro Familia Switzerland and former member of the Neuchâtel cantonal government for the centre-right Radical-Liberal Party, discusses the results of the survey of 2,123 families across Switzerland. 

SWI swissinfo.ch: Your study highlights the ever-increasing financial pressure on families. More than half of them – 52%, compared with 47% last year – consider their income to be insufficient or barely sufficient. Are you surprised by these results?

Philippe Gnaegi: I am indeed surprised by the scale of the phenomenon. In concrete terms, our barometer shows that almost half of Swiss families are unable to save enough money at the end of the month to cover an unexpected expense, such as an urgent visit to the dentist. This is an alarming finding. 

SWI: How do you explain this deterioration in the financial situation of families compared with the first barometer you conducted last year?

P.G.: The general rise in prices following the post-Covid recovery is hitting families particularly hard. This is particularly true for energy, housing and food. What’s more, health insurance premiums, which are not included in the consumer price index (CPI), are becoming an increasingly unbearable burden for middle-class families. 

SWI: Families in French-speaking Switzerland and Italian-speaking Ticino say they are suffering more from the rising cost of living than those in German-speaking Switzerland. Are they more critical of their financial situation, or are there objectively significant differences between the language regions? 

P.G.: Families in Ticino are suffering particularly badly. This is due to a lower salary structure than in the rest of the country, while fixed costs such as housing and health insurance are as high, or even higher, as in the rest of Switzerland. In French-speaking Switzerland too, health insurance premiums, which are the biggest expense for families, are generally higher than in German-speaking Switzerland. 

SWI: By international comparison, how do you rate the current situation for families in Switzerland?

P.G.: Inflation affects the whole world, not just Switzerland. But unlike many other European countries, here the state does not intervene to support families. In Switzerland family policy is the poor relation of social policy. This is particularly true at a time when purchasing power is falling across the board. 

SWI: For four out of ten families, the cost of living is a reason not to have more children. Isn’t this worrying at a time when Switzerland, like other countries, is experiencing a fall in its birth rate?

P.G.: It’s very worrying indeed, and here too I’m surprised by the scale of the phenomenon. We can deduce from this that the financial difficulties faced by families have a major impact on their behaviour and their desire to have children. When you have fewer resources at your disposal, you are forced to cut costs. And as children are very expensive in Switzerland, it is unfortunately an item of expenditure that is currently being sacrificed as a priority.

SWI: What do you expect the authorities to do?

P.G.: My question to them is simple: are we finally going to support families, which are the bedrock of our society, or are we going to continue moaning about the ageing population and the shortage of labour while allowing families to become poorer and the birth rate to plummet?

SWI: What measures can we put in place quickly to ease the burden on families?

P.G.: The first priority is to cap health insurance premiums and the cost of childcare outside the home. But beyond these practical considerations, we are waiting for politicians to become truly aware of the difficulties that families face on a daily basis. 

SWI: Would you agree with certain left-wing political figures that the authorities have contempt for the issue of purchasing power?

P.G.: I wouldn’t say contempt, but a certain disconnection. Politicians are not always aware that many people are hanging on by their fingernails and can barely make ends meet. It’s a significant part of the population that slips under the radar of official poverty statistics. 

SWI: The cost of health insurance is a major concern for families, as your barometer shows. Will Pro Familia be calling for a vote in favour of the two initiatives aimed at limiting premiums, which will be put to the vote on June 9?

P.G.: I can tell you straight away that we will be actively supporting these two initiatives, even though our committee is apolitical. There is an urgent need for legislation to cap and limit the rise in health insurance premiums.

SWI: Pensioners have had their share of the cake with the 13th monthly pension payment, and now it’s the turn of families. Is that a fair summary of your position?

P.G.: We’ve just had an important vote on [the pension system]. This 13th pension payment is good news for our elderly, but the family plays an even more crucial role in the future of society. We need to focus on this, and we need to do it now, because it will take several years before we can see the effects of the measures adopted. 

SWI: You are a liberal politician. Doesn’t this increasingly marked desire to call on the state to solve all society’s problems contradict your values? 

P.G.: There are indeed more and more expectations of the state, and sometimes people have the impression that the solutions are simple. But when it comes to family policy, I have a very clear message for my political family: do you want companies to function properly, women to work more and our social security systems to be sustainable? Then we need to put in place the necessary framework conditions and act quickly by investing in family policy. You can’t have your cake and eat it too. 

The government must regain control of this issue. We can’t afford to have such major differences in the implementation of family support measures from one canton to another. 

SWI: Despite all the difficulties, four out of five families in Switzerland say they are satisfied with their current family life. And almost two-thirds say they have a good work-life balance, according to your barometer. So things aren’t all that bad for families in Switzerland…

P.G.: I’m not as optimistic as you. In our society, the family is increasingly seen as a safe haven from the outside world. It allows us to hold on to roots and values that we can no longer find elsewhere. When the outside world is distressing, as it is at the moment, we tend to retreat into our family refuge and place excessive value on it. That’s how I interpret the results of our survey, even if we should be pleased that the Swiss find a great deal of satisfaction in their families. 

Edited by Pauline Turuban. Translated from French by DeepL/ts

>> Re-read: our article on the historic decline in births in Switzerland and around the world:

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