Brief Review

Demographics

According to the Swiss Federal Statistics Office, life expectancy is 79.1 years for men and 84.0 for women, the tenth highest in the world, with 96.1 males for every 100 females in the total population. Like most European countries, the population is ageing, with the average age rising from year to year, due to longer life spans and a low birth rate. In July 2006, the Swiss Federal Statistics Office published a projection estimating that by 2050, one in three adult Swiss will be of retirement age (as opposed to one in five in 2005). The total population was projected to stagnate in 2036 at around 8.1 million and fall slightly to 8 million in 2050.

The predicted age structure for 2050 is:

• 0-20 years: 1,4 million (18%)
• 20-64 years: 4,4 million (55%)
• 65 and over: 2,2 million (27%)

Only five percent of all retired people today depend on their basic state pensions alone, known as the first pillar of the system. Among those between 65 and 69, the figure sinks to 2.5 percent. Apart from the state pension and occupational pensions – the second pillar – the overwhelming majority of retired people also hold financial and property investments. Nearly 20 percent of retired couples have a gross wealth of over one million francs.

Age groups as a percentage (2006):

• 0-19: 21.7
• 20-39: 27.0
• 40-64: 35.1
• 65+: 16.2