Social security system

The social security system provides an income if employment or one’s personal situation does not enable this. There are various schemes (such as social insurances or means-tested benefits) and various administrative levels (federal, cantonal and communal) at the origin of these benefits.

Social protection funding

The total social security accounts show expenditure on social protection in Switzerland compared with the country’s overall growth, the source of receipts and the financial weight of each social risk.

In 2019, social protection receipts amounted to CHF 230 billion (corresponding to CHF 26 870 per inhabitant, i.e. 31.7% of the GDP). In 1996, these receipts amounted to CHF 18 050 per inhabitant (27.8% of the GDP). 67% of receipts came from social contributions of employers and from insured persons. Taking into consideration health insurance premiums, insured persons paid more contributions than employers. Furthermore, net health insurance premiums increased in weighting between 1996 and 2019: their percentage of total receipts increased from around 9% to 12%. As a percentage of the GDP, the total health insurance premiums amounted to 2.4% in 1996 compared with 3.8% in 2019. Per inhabitant and at 2019 prices, health insurance premiums doubled, increasing from CHF 1569 to CHF 3179.

Social protection expenditure amounted to CHF 183 billion in 2019. This sum corresponds to almost 25.1% of the GDP i.e. CHF 21 303 per inhabitant. Expenditure has increased compared with 1996. With the ageing of the population and due to greater healthcare needs, expenditure on old age and disease/healthcare has driven all social expenditure upwards. These areas now account for 43.1% and 31.9% of the total.

Social assistance in the broader sense

Means-tested benefits prior to financial social assistance (also called social assistance in the narrow sense) are paid by the cantons and reduce social assistance costs by targeting particular risks. They include supplementary benefits to OASI/IV, old-age and disability support, unemployment support, family support, maintenance advances and housing benefits. Economic social assistance is paid by the cantons or communes and serves as the last safety net of the social security system. Together, means-tested benefits and financial social assistance form means-tested social benefits for poverty reduction (social assistance in the broader sense).

From 2006 to 2021, net expenditure (gross expenditure minus reimbursements) of means-tested social benefits for poverty reduction increased in nominal value from 5.5 to 8.8 billion, which equates to a rise of 59%. During the observed period, this expenditure never decreased. The lowest rate of annual increase was 0.7% (2021) and the highest 6.1% (2012). In 2021, the cantons assumed 44.1% of means-tested social benefits for poverty reduction, while the communes and the Confederation assumed 35% and 20.2% respectively.

Between 2006 and 2021, the number of beneficiaries of means-tested social benefits for poverty reduction increased by 22%. Due to the increase in population numbers, the rate of recipients of these benefits increased less strongly from 8.9% in 2006 to 9.3% in 2021.

In 2021, 48.6% of recipients of means-tested social benefits for poverty reduction received federal supplementary benefits to OASI and IV (PC), representing 62.1% of expenditure (CHF 5.4 billion). This was followed by social assistance in the narrow sense with 33.1% of recipients and 31.5% of expenditure (CHF 2.8 billion). Other means-tested benefits accounted for a total of 18.3% of recipients and 6.4% of expenditure (CHF 0.6 billion).

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