Long-term health problems

Relevance/Result

Included in the MEHM (Minimum European Health Module, a module incorporated into European health surveys), this is an indicator linked to chronic diseases. Suffering from a chronic disease or a long-term health problem may have considerable negative consequences on social integration.

In 2020, 28% of the Swiss permanent resident population aged 15 or over suffered from long-term health problems. The population without a migration background suffered more than the population with a migration background: the latter had a rate of 30%, while in the first generation and the second or subsequent generations, the rate was respectively 27% and 24%.

Trends over time

From 2012 to 2020, there was an increase in long-term health problems in all population groups. The population with a migration background from the second or subsequent generations had the highest increase (+3.5 percentage points).

Canton

In most cantons, the population without a migration background had more long-term health problems than those with a migration background. This difference is nonetheless only significant in the cantons of Zurich, Fribourg, Solothurn, Graubünden and Vaud.

Definitions

Share of persons saying that they suffered from a chronic or long-term disease or health problem, i.e. minimum of 6 months.

You can access the indicators in one of the following ways

All indicators

Some 68 indicators describe the current situation and changes in the integration of the population with a migration background and/or of foreign nationals in Switzerland in eleven areas of life in our society.

Key indicators

34 key indicators provide an overview of the progress made on the journey towards integration and the state of integration of the population with a migration background. If this information is lacking, the population is shown by nationality, and where this variable is available, the country of birth.