Public health and Covid-19 in Switzerland

Healthcare in Switzerland

The effectiveness of the health care system in Switzerland is well above average in a global comparison.

Probably the most important indicator that can be used to summarize the efficiency of all measures is general life expectancy. In other words, the theoretical age that a newborn child could potentially reach today. At the moment this age in Switzerland is 81.1 years for men and 85.2 years for women. For comparison: worldwide life expectancy is about 10.3 years lower (men: 70.6 / women: 75.1 years).

A total of 9,666.34 USD per inhabitant is spent annually on health measures at state expense. This corresponds to approximately 11.3% of the gross domestic product. Internationally, this amount averages 1,121.80 USD (~ 9.8% of the respective GDP).

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Distribution of the corona virus

Spread of the corona virus in Switzerland

19th calendar week (05/09/2022 to 05/15/2022): 17.7 new infections per day per 100,000 inhabitants
By May 16th, 2022, 3441534 infected persons and 12836 deaths have been reported in the country. The first confirmed infections were reported in March 2020, which is the date of the official notification. An additional 10-14 days are calculated for noticing one's own infection, the doctor's appointment, the laboratory test and, above all, the period from the infection until the first symptoms appear.

The total of 3,441,534 infected people represent 39.85% of the country's total population. The number of new infections during the 19th calendar week was 10,723 , representing 17.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants per day.

The first graph shows the number of reported infections per calendar week. The second graph below the number of deaths.

Mortality rate of infected persons

From the previously infected and deceased people, in Switzerland results in a mortality rate of 0.37%. It should be borne in mind that death occurs an average of 19 days after the first symptoms appear. The time of the actual infection is therefore followed by several days until a person affected has a medical test carried out and the results are available.

Due to the current corona pandemic, we update the worldwide case numbers weekly. A list of all infected and dead people by country can be found on our Corona virus topic page.

Current development

Calendar week	Infected	Deaths
19/2022	10,723	14
18/2022	12,846	28
17/2022	16,546	19
16/2022	33,881	1
15/2022	16,818	82
14/2022	39,697	56
13/2022	58,221	31
12/2022	139,405	125
11/2022	172,585	12
10/2022	206,441	137

Weight and size

	Male	Female
Body height	179 cm	164 cm
BMI	26.8	23.8
Weight	85.5 kg	63.9 kg

Diseases

	Switzerland	Ø worldwide
Diabetes *	5.70%	8.81%
Tuberculosis	0.00%	0.13%
HIV / Aids	0.01%	0.03%

* The number of people suffering from diabetes refers only to inhabitants aged between 20 and 79 years.

Child vaccinations

	Switzerland	Ø worldwide
Measles	95.0%	85.7%
Hepatitis B	0.07%	0.08%
DTP *	9.60%	8.57%

* DTP is a three times combined basic vaccination against diphtheria, pertussis (whooping cough) and tetanus, which should be given to children up to the age of 23 months.

In Switzerland, 25.7% of all over 15-year-olds are still smokers.
6 percent of newborns are underweight.

Medical supplies

The medical care provided by doctors and hospitals in Switzerland is above average and also exceeds the average achieved in the EU countries. The country provides 4.6 hospital beds per 1000 inhabitants. The global mean here is 2.9 beds. Within the EU, 4.6 beds are available for every 1,000 residents.

With about 36,600 physicians in Switzerland, there are about 4.24 doctors per 1000 inhabitants. Here again the comparison: worldwide this standard is 1.50 physicians per 1000 inhabitants and in the EU even 3.57.

Through medical care, the mortality of major known diseases can be reduced to an above-average extent. For example, only about 8 percent of all people who suffer from cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases or chylomicron retention disease (CRD) currently die.

Supply with drinking water

About 94 percent of the population has access to an immediately available, running drinking water supply. At least via springs and wells within a maximum distance of 30 minutes or supplied water, 100% of the population is supplied with largely clean drinking water. The population is thus better served than average. In a global comparison, only about 74% of the population has direct access to tested and always available drinking water. Within the European Union, this share is 98%. Only in a few countries does the proportion fall below 10%.

Sources

Above data correspond to the information of the World Health Organization, Global Health Workforce Statistics, UNICEF, State of the World's Children, Childinfo, Global Health Observatory Data Repository and OECD. The case numbers for the spread of the corona virus come from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Infected and deaths by the corona virus (COVID 19)

Spread of the Corona virus Covid19 (SARS-CoV-2)Worldwide development of the number of cases and deaths due to the corona virus.

Average life expectancy by countryInternational ranking of life expectancy in 123 countries including summary by continents. Explanation of significant factors.

Quality of life in country comparisonCompare the quality of life around the globe: In which countries is life pleasant, safe and healthy?