Health in Switzerland

[1] A new measure of expected human capital calculated for 195 countries from 1990 to 2016 and defined for each birth cohort as the expected years lived from age 20 to 64 years and adjusted for educational attainment, learning or education quality, and functional health status was published by The Lancet in September 2018.

Overall, Switzerland performs better than the OECD average in 90% of the health risk factors reviewed.

Switzerland's hospital bed capacity stands at 4.4 per 1,000 population, on par with the OECD average of 4.3.

[7] According to study, people working in healthcare or hospitality industries are two economic sectors most affected by mental illness.

[9] The percentage of SMEs that are significantly affected by failures due to mental illnesses in 2022 stands at 26%.

[19] Some 23,100 men and 19,650 women were diagnosed with cancer every year between 2013 and 2017, according to a Swiss report; with an increase of 3,350 new cases compared with the previous five-year period (because of an aging population).

[20] According to studies, alcohol consumption, smoking and pollution are main factors contributing to cancer.

[22] Nearly 3% of people in Switzerland gamble excessively spending 122 Swiss Francs per month on average.

[25] The Swiss health office estimates there are 220,000 regular consumers of cannabis in Switzerland despite a legal ban.

[28][29] Since the early 90's, when drug use was dramatically increasing in urban areas, Switzerland has pioneered effective drug policies of harm reduction, prevention and treatment, including HAT as well as decriminalisation of recreational cannabis use.

[30] The number of opioid-related calls made to Tox Info Suisse, the national poisoning hotline, increased by 177% between 2000 and 2019.

[31] Analysis of Swiss police records suggests that participants in medical drug rehabilitation programs tend to reduce cocaine, cannabis and heroin use,[32] and the need to commit other crimes to buy their drugs, such as shoplifting, burglary or car theft.

[36] According to official statistics, the percentage of adults drinking alcohol every day has decreased by 50% over the past 25 years, from 20% to 11%.

[39] By the end of 2020, Switzerland had 236 registered HIV new infections (about a third fewer than in 2019, partly because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

[48] As of 2017, the share of people classified as overweight (body mass index (BMI) 25 to 30) has remained stable at 42% of the population.