One in 12 Swiss residents remain below poverty line

Keystone-SDA

The 2023 poverty rate remained stable in Switzerland at 8.1%. Poverty particularly affects people living alone or in single-parent households with young children, the unemployed and those with fewer qualifications.

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The poverty rate in 2023 is roughly equivalent to that of the previous year (8.2%). The poverty rate among the employed population was 4.4% (176,000 people), higher than in previous years (2022: 3.8%; 2021: 4.2%), the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) said on Monday.

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The poverty threshold is defined on the basis of the standards of the Swiss Conference of Social Welfare Institutions (CSIAS). In 2023, it stood at an average of CHF2,315 per month for a single person and CHF4,051 for two adults living with two children.

In the 12 months preceding the survey, 6.3% of the population had fallen into at least two types of payment arrears, and 5.5% had had to forego important goods, services and social activities for financial reasons.

Translated from French by DeepL/mga

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