Information about the Economy of Switzerland

About two third of the area of Switzerland is covered with forests, lakes and mountains. Since Switzerland has no mineral resources, it must import, process and resell them as products. "Services" are the most important part of the economy. This includes banking, assurances and tourism.
Farming is also an important part of the economy. But the production of the Swiss farmers does not fulfill the needs of all people, so Switzerland must rely on imported goods from other countries.

The economy in Switzerland is divided into three sectors:

1. "Landwirtschaft" (agriculture)
2. "Industrie" (industry)
3. "Dienstleistungen" (services)

Less than 10% of the population is employed in the "Landwirtschaft" (agriculture), also considered the primary sector. This sector is strongly supported by the government.

About 40% of the population is employed in the "Industrie, Gewerbe und Handwerk" (industry, trade and handicraft), also considered the secondary sector. This sector includes the "Maschinen- und Metallindustrie" (machine and metal industry), "Uhrenindustrie" (watch industry) and the "Textilindustrie" (textile industry). All of them export much of their products to foreign countries and suffer a lot because of the expensive Swiss Franc. The fact that Switzerland does not belong to the European Union additionally slows down the Swiss exports.

More than 50% of the population is employed in the "Dienstleistungssektor" (services), also considered the tertiary sector. This sector includes banking, assurances, tourism and so on. Banking is one of the most important businesses in Switzerland. Many of the banks have started to use the Internet for business purposes. For more information, see the directory of Swiss banks.

Switzerland is one of the countries with the highest contribution of the foreign trade to the gross inland product. The most important trade partners are the so called "industrialized countries". In 2003, 77.2% of the exported goods were shipped to and 89.0% of the imported goods came from those countries. In particular, 60.3% of the goods were shipped to and 81.7% of the imported goods came from countries which belong to the European Union (EU).

The tables below show the names of the countries and the values of the imported and exported goods in million Swiss Francs (1 million = 1'000'000) for the year 2003.

Rank	Country	Import		Rank	Country	Export
1	Germany	41'200		1	Germany	27'700
2	Italy	13'800		2	USA	13'800
3	France	13'700		3	France	11'500
4	Netherlands	6'400		4	Italy	11'000
5	Austria	5'400		5	Great Britain	6'200
	USA	5'400		6	Japan	5'100
6	Great Britain	4'900		7	Austria	4'400
7	Ireland	4'700			Netherlands	4'400
8	Belgium	3'600		8	Belgium	2'600
9	Japan	2'600		9	Ireland	900

The table below shows the value of the imported and exported goods in million Swiss Francs (1 million = 1'000'000) for the year 2002.

No	Goods	Import		No	Goods	Export
1	Chemicals	27'256		1	Chemicals	44'846
2	Machines	25'925		2	Machines	31'693
3	Vehicles	12'843		3	Precision tools, watches, jewelry	22'602
4	Agriculture and fishery	9'864		4	Agriculture and fishery	4'219
5	Metals	9'329		5	Vehicles	3'742
6	Textile, clothing and shoes	8'625		6	Textile, clothing and shoes	3'726
7	Precision tools, watches, jewelry	8'167		7	Leather, rubber, plastic	3'647
8	Energy	5'369		8	Paper	3'275
9	Paper	4'740		9	Other	1'746
10	Other	4'516		10	Metals	975
11	Leather, rubber, plastic	4'264		11	Stone, soil	780
12	Stone, soil	2'229		12	Energy	363

The Swiss currency is called "Schweizerfranken" ("Swiss Francs") or short "Franken". One hundred "Rappen" make up one Swiss Franc. CHF is the ISO representation for Swiss francs; however, the old notation sFr. is still used quite often.

This is a 5 Franken coin, called a "Fünfliber"

The currency is available in the following coins:

• 1 Rappen ("Räppler", no longer in use)
• 2 Rappen ("Zweiräppler", no longer in use)
• 5 Rappen ("Fünfer")
• 10 Rappen ("Zehner")
• 20 Rappen ("Zwanziger")
• ½ Franken ("Fünfziger")
• 1 Franken ("Fränkler")
• 2 Franken ("Zweifränkler")
• 5 Franken ("Fünfliber") - a long time ago, there used to be a five francs bill (includes images of approx. 220kB)

Images of all coins.

The currency is available in the following bills:

• 10 Franken (images of current, previous and older bills)
• 20 Franken (images of current, previous and older bill)
• 50 Franken (images of current and previous bill)
• 100 Franken (images of current, previous and older bills)
• 200 Franken (images of current and previous bill)
• 1000 Franken (images of current and previous bill)

To convert currency, we suggest the oanda online currency converter.

Now and then I receive questions about the cost of living in Switzerland. Even tough it is difficult to compare the costs of living between various countries, I try to list some indications that may give an idea what it means to go along with your salary in Switzerland.

5.1 Exchange rates:

I remember times when I was young (some 35 years ago), when one US dollar (USD) cost more than four Swiss Francs (CHF) and one German Mark cost more than one Swiss Franc. Today (May 14, 2010), one US dollar costs approximately CHF 1.11 and the German Mark has been replaced by the Euro (EUR). One Euro corresponds to about CHF 1.40. These ever changing exchange rates are one problem in comparing costs of living.

5.2 Salaries:

Another problem in comparing the costs of living is the amount of money one has available to spend, also known as the salary. This is particularly difficult because most people do not like to talk about it, at least here in Switzerland. Of course, the actual salary depends on the education, the position within the company or organization, the duration of the employment etc. The following table is a very rough approximation of a yearly income depending on the level of education:

type of education	salary range
apprenticeship (typically 3 or 4 years)	CHF 40'000 - 80'000
academic	CHF 70'000 - 150'000
lower management	CHF 120'000 - 250'000
higher management	CHF 200'000 ++

Again as a very rough approximation, a Swiss family spends its income as follows:

• 25-35% for rent of a condominium or house
• 10-20% for assurances (health, liability, theft, car), health care and savings deposits
• 15-20% for food (at home and in restaurants)
• 20-40% for other expenses (non-food, car maintenance, phone bills, vacations, recreational activities)
• 5-15% for taxes (Taxes vary across the different cantons quite a lot)

The following table is a list of some food goods and their approximative cost as of summer 2010 in the area of Zürich.

Goods	Amount	Approximative cost in CHF
Bread in a store	1 kg	3.00 - 4.00
Milk in a store	1 liter	2.00
Coffee or tee in a restaurant	1 cup (no refill)	3.50
Softdrink in a restaurant	0.2 or 0.3 l	3.50 - 4.00
Hamburger in fast food restaurant	200 gr	5.00
A meal in a family restaurant without beverages	1 person	15.00 - 30.00

If you are not familiar with our metric unit system, see explanations about metric versus U.S. unit systems

The following table is a list of some non-food goods and their approximative cost as of spring 2010 in the area of Zürich.

Goods	Amount	Approximative cost in CHF
Diesel	1 liter	1.85 (changes daily!)
Gasoline	1 liter	1.70 (changes daily!)
Cigarettes	1 pack	5.00
Compact Disk (music)	1 CD	10.00 - 25.00
Jeans	1	100.00 - 150.00
Building land	1 m²	400.00 - 1200.00
House (without land)	4 .. 5 rooms	400'000 - 1'000'000++

If you are not familiar with our metric unit system, see explanations about metric versus U.S. unit systems