The Safest Countries in the World
The Global Finance ranking of World's Safest Countries incorporates three measures of security and safety, factoring natural disaster risk with measures of peace and crime.
Switzerland GDP and Economic Data
Country Report 2017 - Includes Switzerland real Gross Domestic Product growth rate, with latest forecasts and historical data, GDP per capita, GDP composition and breakdown by sector.
Browse additional economic indicators and data sets, selected by Global Finance editors, to learn more about Switzerland economic outlook, debt to GDP ratio, international trade performance and population trends. Rankings of Switzerland best banks and safest banks are also available.
Advertisement
Source
International Reserves
USD 568.6 billion (2015)
International Monetary Fund (IMF), data retrieved January 2017
Gross Domestic Product - GDP
USD 684.4 billion (2017, estimate)
GDP (Purchasing Power Parity)
Intl$ 511.6 billion (2017, estimate)
Real GDP growth
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 4.2% | 4.1% | 2.2% | -2.1% | 2.9% | 1.9% | 1.1% |
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* | 2017* | ||
| 1.8% | 1.9% | 0.8% | 1% | 1.3% |
*Estimate
GDP per capita - current prices
USD 81,314.1 (2017, estimate)
GDP (PPP) - share of world total
| 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2017* |
| 0.81% | 0.74% | 0.55% | 0.45% | 0.4% |
*Estimate
Advertisement
Source
GDP - composition by sector
- agriculture: 0.7%
- industry: 25.9%
- services: 73.4%
(2016 estimate)
Gross domestic expenditure on R&D; (% of GDP)
3% (2012)
OECD, data retrieved January 2017
Inflation
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* | 2017* |
| -0.2% | 0.0% | -1.1% | -0.4% | 0.0% |
*Estimate
Unemployment rate
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* | 2017* |
| 3.2% | 3.0% | 3.2% | 3.5% | 3.4% |
*Estimate
Public debt (General government gross debt as a % of GDP)
| 2013 | 2014* | 2015* | 2016* | 2017* |
| 46.4% | 45.7% | 45.7% | 44.7% | 43.7% |
*Estimate
Public deficit (General government net lending/borrowing as a % of GDP)
| 2013 | 2014* | 2015* | 2016* | 2017* |
| -0.2% | -0.2% | -0.2% | -0.3% | -0.3% |
*Estimate
Government bond ratings
Standard & Poor's: AAA
Moody's: Aaa
Standard & Poor's / Moody's (Updated January 2017)
Source
Market value of publicly traded shares
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| USD 1540.7 billion | USD 1495.3 billion | USD 1519.3 billion |
Largest companies
Nestle, Novartis, UBS, Roche Holding, Swiss Re, Zurich Insurance Group, Chubb, ABB, Richemont, Glencore International, Swiss Life Holding, Syngenta, Credit Suisse Group, Swisscom, TE Connectivity, LafargeHolcim, Wolseley, Swatch Group, Kuehne + Nagel, Bâloise Group, Schindler Holding, Tyco International, Transocean, Helvetia Holding, Adecco, SGS, Givaudan, Julius Baer Group, Actelion, Sika, Weatherford International, BCV Group, Lindt & Sprungli, Geberit, Coca-Cola HBC, EMS-Chemie Holding, Partners Group Holding, Basler Kantonalbank, Dufry AG, Noble, Luzerner Kantonalbank, Sonova Holding, St Galler Kantonalbank, Galenica, BEKB-BCBE.
Source
Source
Current account balance by percentage of GDP
9.0% (2017 estimate)
Exports as percent of GDP (Exports of goods and services)
62.9% (2015)
Shares in world total merchandising export
1.8% (2015)
Shares in world total commercial services export
2.3% (2015)
Export commodities
Machinery, chemicals, metals, watches, agricultural products
Advertisement
Source
Import commodities
Machinery, chemicals, vehicles, metals; agricultural products, textiles
Exports - major partners
Germany 14.2%, US 10.6%, Hong Kong 8.7%, India 7.3%, China 6.9%, France 6.1%, Italy 5.4%, UK 4.8% (2015)
Imports - major partners
Germany 20.7%, UK 12.8%, US 8.1%, Italy 7.8%, France 6.7%, China 5.1% (2015)
FDI inflows
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| USD 646 million | USD 6,635 million | USD 68,838 million |
FDI outflows
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| USD 38,557 million | USD -3,327 million | USD 70,277 million |
Value of cross-border M&A, by country of purchaser
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| USD 16356.6 million | USD 5578.6 million | USD 9566.8 million | USD 39971.1 million |
Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2014
Roche Holding AG, InterMune Inc, United States, USD 8.3 billion / Mercuria Energy Group Ltd, JPMorgan Chase & Co-Physical Commodities Business, United States, USD 3.5 billion
(for a monthly update on M&A; click here )
Cross-border M&A deals worth over $3 billion completed in 2015
Holcim Ltd, Lafarge SA, France, USD 20.6 billion / Novartis AG, GlaxoSmithKline PLC-Oncology Business, United Kingdom, USD 16.0 billion
(for a monthly update on M&A; click here )
Best countries for doing business
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.
Overall ranking: 31 out of 190 countries (2017)
Subcategories:
Starting a business: 71 out of 190 countries
Enforcing Contracts: 39 out of 190 countries
Registering Property: 16 out of 190 countries
Getting Credit: 62 out of 190 countries
Protecting Minority Investors: 106 out of 190 countries
Trading Across Borders: 37 out of 190 countries
Paying Taxes: 18 out of 190 countries
Dealing with Construction Permits: 68 out of 190 countries
Getting Electricity: 7 out of 190 countries
Resolving Insolvency: 45 out of 190 countries
Source
Global competitiveness ranking
1 out of 138 countries
(2016-2017)
Index of Economic Freedom
Ranking: 4 / Score: 81.03 (Free) (2016)
(100=totally free 0=totally repressed)
Source
Source
Government type
Federal republic (formally a confederation)
Languages
German (official) 63.5%, French (official) 22.5%, Italian (official) 8.1%, English 4.4%, Portuguese 3.4%, Albanian 3.1%, Serbo-Croatian 2.5%, Spanish 2.2%, Romansch (official) 0.5%, other 6.6%
Note: German, French, Italian, and Romansch are all national and official languages; totals more than 100% because some respondents indicated more than one main language (2013 est.)
Religions
Roman Catholic 38.2%, Protestant 26.9%, Muslim 4.9%, other Christian 5.7%, other 1.6%, none 21.4%, unspecified 1.3% (2012 est.)
Total population
| 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2016* | 2021* |
| 6.674 million | 7.164 million | 7.786 million | 8.325 million | 8.819 million |
*Estimate
Advertisement
Source
Urban population as % of total population
| 1960 | 1980 | 2000 | 2015 |
| 51% | 57% | 73% | 74% |
Inequality of wealth distribution (Gini index)
31.6 (2012)
(0=perfect equality, 100=absolute inequality)
Source
Freedom House rating
Political Rights: 1
Civil Liberties: 1 (2017)
(1 represents the most free, 7 the least free rating)
Source
Total telephone subscribers as % of population
Fixed 50.25% Mobile 136.47% (2015)
(fixed-telephone subscribers and mobile-cellular subscribers)
Mercer Cost of living index
Zurich: 3rd
Geneva: 8th
Bern: 13th
(2016)
Source