page_title: Poverty in Switzerland
section_title: Poverty
hierarchical_section_title: Poverty in Switzerland / Poverty
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Un sans-abri dans un duvet dans le centre-ville de Lausanne (Suisse). Inscrit sur le carton&#160;: Avant j'avais un travail, aujourd'hui je suis SDF, demain...
context_page_description: Poverty in Switzerland refers to people who are living in relative poverty in Switzerland. In 2018, 7.9% of the population or some 660,000 people in Switzerland were affected by income poverty. Switzerland has also a significant number of working poor, estimated at 145,000 in 2015.
  Historically, Switzerland has been a poor country, especially the Alpine regions. From the 17th century, incipient industrialisation brought wealth to the cities, particularly to Zürich, but rural areas remained destitute well into the 19th century, causing the peasant war in 1653, and later forcing families to emigrate both to Russia and the American continent.
  In the 20th century, the economy of modern Switzerland came to establish itself among the world's most prosperous and stable, and in terms of human development index Switzerland ranks second worldwide only behind Norway. As of 2019, Switzerland had the highest average wealth per adult, at $564,653.
context_section_description: Nevertheless, Switzerland has a significant number of working poor, estimated at 145,000 in 2015. This number is out of a total of approximately 570,000 people (or about 7% of the total population) living in poverty. This number shows a slight increase from 2014 when it was 6.6%. In the same year, 8.9% of the population was making less than 50% of the median equalised income (about €19,793, CHF 24,041), with 4.5% making less than 40% (€15,834, CHF 19,232). The median equivalised income is a number which half of the population makes more than, while half makes less. Because it uses the median it is less affected by the extremely rich.
  Several groups continued to have the highest risk of poverty. They included those in a household where no one was gainfully employed (18.2% at risk of poverty), single adults living alone (12.5%), single parent households with children (12.5%) and those without any optional schooling (10.9%). Resident foreigners had a higher rate than Swiss citizens, with those from outside Europe having a poverty risk nearly twice that of citizens.
caption: Homeless in Lausanne in 2019
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