Consumers see inflation as stronger and expect it to increase in next 12 months
BERN, SWITZERLAND – Swiss consumer confidence is rising, with the quarterly index of Seco, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs showing a marked increase in two key areas. The survey carried out at the end of April shows that “consumer expectations regarding the development of the overall economic situation reached -2 points in April (compared with -29 in January). There was also an improvement in the expectations concerning unemployment (+49 in April com-pared with +71 in January),” according to a statement from Seco.
The two areas that remain virtually unchanged, however, are assessments of the future development of consumers’ personal financial situations (+0 in April compared with +1 point in January) and “the assessment of their future savings opportunities (+20 compared with +22 points in January)”.
A number of changes are taking place in the way the survey is carried out, starting with a change in the research institute doing the research, but it will also cover an additional two to three weeks and will include 1,200 rather than 1,100 households. A key change is that Italian speakers from Ticino are now being inclluded; in the past the surveys were run only in French- and German-speaking Switzerland.
The Lake Geneva region and Ticino show the highest percentage of mental health problems, with figures based in part on questionnaires
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The extent of mental illness in Switzerland have remained relatively stable for the past 10 years, a new report by the Federal Health Office shows.
The cost in economic terms is CHF11 billion a year, with a large part of this due to indirect costs such as absenteeism and early retirement.
The number of people who seek treatment remains very low, rising from only 4 percent to 5 percent between 1997 and 2007.
The report, released 12 April, is the third such review by the office. While 74 percent of the population describe themselves as feeling full of energy and optimistic most of the time, 19 percent have said in surveys that they are affected moderately or more seriously by mental health problems, including 4 percent of the population that is handicapped by a debilitating mental health problem.
The figures are based on a combination of statistics and several different surveys by federal departments.
The Lake Geneva region and Ticino continue to have a higher incidence of mental health ailments than German-speaking Switzerland. Serious mental health problems affect women and young people more often than men and the elderly, but milder forms of depression are more prevalent among women and older people, the report’s statistics show.
Online tax filing: quick, easy and popular in Switzerland
BERN, SWITZERLAND – A small sampling of the Swiss population, 1,000 people interviewed by phone, has shown the Swiss to be happy with government online services, particularly at the commune level, says Bern.
The results of the study commissioned by the federal government, published 18 October, show that 85 percent of Swiss now have Internet access, with smartphones and private connections growing. Older people are using the Internet more.
The growing use of the Internet is no longer translating into a great use of government online services, however, and there is still a tendency to telephone to contact local authorities rather than to try to reach them by e-mail.
The most popular services are online tax filing and various aspects of voting. Some 44 percent of those interviewed said they would like to see the federal and cantonal governments build a health information service, since two-thirds of people go online to look for medical information, but the rate of credibility for information found is very low.
French- and Italian-speaking regions laggards
BERN, SWITZERLAND – The use of seat belts by back seat passengers in Swiss cars has climbed steeply, from 32 percent in 2001 to 79 percent in 2011, says the Swiss Safety Council (BFU) which is pushing for an overall 100 percent use of seat belts in the country.
The rate for back seat passengers nevertheless remains below that of drivers and front seat passengers, 89 and 88 percent respectively.
The totals hide significant differences between regions, however, with German-speaking Swiss using the belts far more regularly while French-speaking cantons lag and Ticino is at the bottom of the statistical tables.
The statistics appear to show a greater readiness to buckle up for motorways and a more lax attitude in built-up areas. German-speaking areas have a seat belts used figure of 93 percent on motorways, with French-speaking areas 89 percent and Italian-speaking areas 92 percent.
But in built-up areas, drivers only, the German speakers use them in 88 percent of cars, French speakers in 77 percent and Italian speakers 70 percent.
The figures are lower for back seat passengers, front seat passengers use seat belts more than drivers off the motorway and in built up areas.
The survey was carried out in May by BFU, with trained staff at 73 stations around the country observing drivers and their passengers. Some 45,000 cars with Swiss plates were noted, but children under age 7 were not included and special vehicles such as taxis were also left out.
BFU notes in its report, issued 19 July, that
“The long-term trend for automobile drivers and front-seat passengers shows a parallel but, in the last 4 years, stagnating development. A clear increase could be observed only for back-seat passengers.
“Seat belts are an efficient measure to prevent serious or fatal injuries resulting from an accident. International comparisons show that seat belt wearing rates of close to 100 % are possible. To achieve this goal in Switzerland, automobile users in all parts of the country must be convinced of the necessity of wearing seat belts on every trip.”
Comparable recent statistics are hard to come by for Europe or the US, but Switzerland appears to have a relatively high rate of use.
Swiss law mandates seat belts for everyone in a car, including mini-vans. Seat belt laws went into effect in 1975 but were extended in 2006 to cover all passengers.
Rate far higher than previous studies show, IOM says
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – A new survey for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on 23 commercial farms in two South African provinces turned up a far higher than expected rate of HIV positive samples. The Integrated Biological and Behavioural Surveillance Survey (IBBSS) involved 2,810 farm workers in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces who anonymously gave blood specimens for HIV testing, says the IOM.
The group has the highest HIV prevalence among any working population in Southern Africa, based on the survey, the IOM reports: about twice the average for the country and far higher than previously thought. On average, 39.5 percent of farm workers who tested were HIV positive. “This is more than twice the Unaids estimated national prevalence for South Africa of 18.1 percent,” with women having a far higher rate, 46.7 percent, than men, 30.9 percent.
The study could not find a single factor to account for the high incidence, but the locations of the farms in the Malelane, Musina and Tzaneen areas appears to be significant:
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The final vote counts are dribbling in from the closely-watched 2010 US mid-term elections. Even before Americans headed for the polls a Geneva-based international group was appealing to US citizens who live outside the country to fill in a survey, anonymously, by the US-based Overseas Vote Foundation. American Citizens Abroad (ACA) in Geneva has played an active role in improving access to ballots for overseas citizens and their children who were born or live outside the US. The Overseas Vote Foundation (OVF) was created in part to address a problem that affects thousands of Americans: US citizens who are subject to taxes but who are unable to vote for a variety of reasons.
The survey has been sent to 90,000 US citizens living in 100 countries. The OVF says it is designed to “capture crucial voter feedback” on the effects of the Military and Overseas Voter Empowerment (Move) Act. “Signed into law in 2009, the Move Act is intended to make the electoral process more accessible to both civilians and military voters and is widely regarded as the most significant such reform since the 1986 Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. During the lead-up to today’s General Election, voting advocates and political leaders have hotly debated the states’ effectiveness in implementing the reforms as well as the Department of Justice’s enforcement role.”
The survey is expected to provide the first measure of the new Act’s impact on the 2010 election results.
New safety slogan: be careful, it’s Monday
Watch out: it's Monday morning
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Ever had that feeling that it might be better to stay in bed Monday morning, not get out into those traffic jams or fight those battles at work? Now you have the proof: Monday mornings are just not safe! And they are expensive, costing Swiss work insurance company Suva CHF10 million a year.
The company registers some 700 accidents at work on a normal work day, but Mondays, between 06:00 and 10:00 Suva sees an additional 45 accidents, with 07:00-08:00 the worst time, when accidents increase by 40 percent.
The main causes are people falling or tripping, at home, en route to work or at work, accidents which increase by 80 to 90 percent between 06:00 and 08:00 Monday.
Men and women are affected equally, as are all age groups. Switzerland has 300,000 such accidents a year, for an insurance cost of CHF1 million.
Average number of work-related accidents by day of the week and hour of the day (source: Suva)
The figures cover 1999-2008 and are culled from a survey of Suva’s customers, who account for half of Switzerland’s working population.
Suva notes that there could be several explanations. Perhaps people tend to do more dangerous work early Monda. But other evidence appears to rule this out.
A more plausible explanation, according to the insurance company, is offered by professor Juergen Zulley t the Medical Centre for Sleep in Regensburg, Germany.
He suggests that our internal clocks are off on Monday mornings, most likely from sleeping in late over the weekend.
The solution? Get up at your usual work time on Saturday and Sunday, so you’re not sluggish and off-schedule early Monday.
Suva admits that convincing us to maintain our work week rhythm on weekends is a tough task. The alternative, it says, is to be extra-careful on Monday mornings.
Passive smoking falls sharply in 7 years
Strong support for smoking bans
Swiss-wide smoking ban - Photo Flickr Hance Gessell
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Twenty-eight percent of German-speaking Swiss smoked in 2009, the latest annual figures from a Swiss public health survey show, against 26 percent in Italian-speaking areas and 25 percent in French-speaking Switzerland. The rate of smoking continues to decline: from 33 to 27 percent from 2001 to 2009.
Passive smoking appears to be falling more dramatically, with 15 percent of the population exposed to other people’s smoke at least seven hours a week last year. The figure was 35 percent in 2002.
Geneva drivers were voted some of the worst in the country by other Swiss, along with those from Ticino and Aargau
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch.com) – The worst drivers in Switzerland are talking on their cell phones or messaging via SMS, according to a survey of 1,000 people in Switzerland, carried out for Comparis.ch, the consumer price comparison group.
Second worst: tailgaters, who hang onto the car in front of them. Men are considered worse drivers than women, and man over the age of 70 are considered particularly dangerous.
In Geneva you don't have to be a millionaire to pay a fortune for housing, but being wealthy eases the pain
[Video]London, England (GenevaLunch.com) - Luanda in Angola is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates, according to the latest Cost of Living Survey from Mercer. Tokyo is in second position, with Ndjamena in Chad in third place. Moscow is in fourth position followed by Geneva in fifth.
Moscow (4), Geneva (5) and Zurich (8) are the most expensive European cities, followed by Copenhagen (10).
Karachi, Pakistan, is ranked as the world’s least expensive city for expats. The survey found that Luanda is three times as costly as Karachi.
The survey covers 214 cities across five continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. It is the world’s most comprehensive cost of living survey and is used to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowance for their expatriate employees. New York is used as the base city for the index and all cities are compared against New York.
Currency movements are measured against the US dollar. The cost of housing—often the biggest expense for expats—plays an important part in determining where cities are ranked.
A trip to Santa Barbara: California beach life 2009
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Residents of Switzerland took 100 million trips in 2008: 3.2 overnight trips and 12.7 day trips per person, show the results of a government survey carried out every five years. And they are spending more money when they do it, CHF148 a day per person for room, board, travel and incidentals for private overnight trips. This is CHF31 more than they were spending in 2003.
Swiss residents are travelling abroad more often and replacing day trips with overnight stays more frequently, with 83.5 percent of the population taking an overnight trip at least once a year. Germany remains the most popular destination outside Switzerland, although 45 percent of all trips are taken within Switzerland.
Gleeful consumers, money goes further
Neuchatel and Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Inflation in October was 0.6 percent above September’s rate, according to figures released Thursday, 5 November, by Swiss Statistics. The Swiss inflation index stands at 103.7 (100=2005). This is still 0.8 percent below the rate in October 2008.
The quarterly consumer confidence survey was more positive than the last one released in July, according to the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco). The survey queries 1,100 households around the country to obtain an idea of current feelings about the economy, from a consumer’s point of view. The survey includes questions about the household budget, about the capacity to save in the next 12 months, and feelings about unemployment.
Another form to fill in
Neuchatel, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Swiss statistics, the Swiss government’s statistical office, conducts a regular survey on the working population in Switzerland which is an important component of the employment situation in Switzerland. The results will now be published on a quarterly basis. One of the aims is to garner information on the effects of the free movement of people as well as the numbers of working poor. Replies to the survey are compulsory.
