The statistics on social assistance recipients drafted and carried out by the Federal Statistical Office provide information on the number social assistance recipients, the social and economic situation of benefit recipients, the type of means-tested social benefits received, the duration of receipt of benefit and the family structure of the recipients.
Thanks to the detailed results, these statistics close the previous information gap at national, cantonal, regional levels. For the Swiss Social Assistance Statistics, economic social assistance and means-tested social benefits upstream of social assistance are surveyed. Only the social benefits granted at cantonal level are considered here and not those at communal level.