Winterthur street pianist (photo: Bob Evans)

GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – The OECD’s third annual “How’s Life” report focuses this year on well-being in countries in the wake of the economic crisis, particularly in the euro zone.

Switzerland, which has weathered the crisis better than most of its neighbours, comes out relatively well, in fifth place in the index linked to the report.

Numbers of visitors vs residents: a land of tourists

Moon-gazing in the Swiss Alps

A curious figure emerges from the report, that this nation of 7.9 million has 8.2 m visitors a year.

By comparison, Austria has twice as many visitors as residents, while France, Italy and Spain all have slightly more visitors than residents and the UK has only half as many visitor as people living in the country; the US has 60 million visitors for its resident population of 311 m. Canada has nearly 35m residents and over 15m visitors a year.

An upbeat country

The index shows that “in general, people in Switzerland are more satisfied with their lives than the OECD average, with 82 percent of people saying they have more positive experiences in an average day (feelings of rest, pride in accomplishment, enjoyment, etc) than negative ones (pain, worry, sadness, boredom, etc).

This figure is higher than the OECD average of 80 percent.”

Ouch, too little voting, too little affordable housing

Lausanne Marathon through the vineyards

Switzerland does well in all but two of the 11 components that make up the index. The Swiss, who are proud of their record as a direct democracy, might be surprised to see that they are weak in the area of civic commitment, which covers voting and consultation about government projects.

Men outvote women by 5 percentage points in Switzerland. Voter turnout is the main problem, 49 percent in recent elections compared to 72 percent in the OECD.

The other weak area is housing, which will surprise no one in Switzerland, a country where housing is expensive and in short supply in urban areas.

Great water and education, not too much work

Lausanne metro, making it easier to get to work

The reputation and self-image for being a hardworking nation takes a bit of a blow: “People in Switzerland work 1 632 hours a year, less than the OECD average of 1 776 hours. Only 6 percent of employees work very long hours, less than the OECD average of 9 percent.”

Water quality is considered better by the population than in most places, while air pollution is slightly worse overall than the OECD average.Life expectancy is three years longer than the OECD average.

Switzerland is “a top-performing country in terms of the quality of its educational system” and while girls out-perform boys the gap is smaller than on most OECD countries.

Rich, poor and the chunk in between

Swiss caviar: award-winning wines – organic Pinot Noir grapes, freshly harvested

The index, like all such measurements, occasionally draws conclusions but with important details missing. Thus, “Money, while it cannot buy happiness, is an important means to achieving higher living standards. In Switzerland, the average household net-adjusted disposable income is 30 060 USD a year, more than the OECD average of 23 047 USD a year. But there is a considerable gap between the richest and poorest – the top 20% of the population earn nearly five times as much as the bottom 20%.”

Zurich

The gap is mentioned but not the fact that the richest and poorest are smaller groups as a percentage of the population as a whole. The CIA report on populations below the poverty line shows Italy and Germany above 15 percent, with Britain and the US around 15 percent, while the figure for Switzerland is 7.9 percent, close to the French figure of 7.8 percent.

“How’s Life? finds that subjective well-being deteriorated in countries most affected by the crisis. Between 2007 and 2012, reported average life satisfaction declined by more than 20% in Greece, 12% in Spain, and 10% in Italy. However, moderate increases were recorded in Germany, Israel, Russia, Mexico and Sweden”, says an OECD press release on the report.

Capturing Geneva

The report’s overall findings include:

• work has a major influence on well-being
• the gender gap is closing and girls are doing better than boys in school but are under-represented in fields with job opportunities
• families are providing important safety nets
• more people are volunteering to help those in need.