Switzerland

Regions and Cities at a Glance

Regions and Cities at a Glance provides a comprehensive assessment of how regions and cities across the OECD are progressing in a number of aspects connected to economic development, health, well-being and the net zero-carbon transition. It presents indicators on individual regions and cities to assess disparities within countries and their evolution since the turn of the new millennium. Each indicator is illustrated by graphs and maps. The report covers all OECD countries and, where data is available, partner countries and economies.

Territorial definitions

The data in this note reflect different sub-national geographic levels in OECD countries:

Regions are classified on two territorial levels reflecting the administrative organisation of countries: large regions (TL2) and small regions (TL3). Small regions are classified according to their access to metropolitan areas (Fadic et al. 2019).
Functional urban areas consist of cities – defined as densely populated local units with at least 50 000 inhabitants – and adjacent local units connected to the city (commuting zones) in terms of commuting flows (Dijkstra, Poelman, and Veneri 2019). Metropolitan areas refer to functional urban areas above 250 000 inhabitants.

In addition, some indicators use the degree of urbanisation classification (OECD et al. 2021), which defines three types of areas:

Cities consist of contiguous grid cells that have a density of at least 1 500 inhabitants per km2 or are at least 50% built up, with a population of at least 50 000.
Towns and semi-dense areas consist of contiguous grid cells with a density of at least 300 inhabitants per km2 and are at least 3% built up, with a total population of at least 5 000.
Rural areas are cells that do not belong to a city or a town and semi-dense area. Most of these have a density below 300 inhabitants per km2.

Disclaimer: https://oecdcode.org/disclaimers/territories.html

Regional economic trends

Employment and unemployment rates in regions

In Switzerland, regional disparities in unemployment rates are stark compared to other OECD countries. While in Ticino 7.2% of the working force was unemployed in 2022Q2, the share was 2.1% in Central Switzerland.

Meanwhile, the difference in employment rate between the regions with the highest (Central Switzerland) and lowest (Ticino) employment rates reached 16 percentage points in 2022. This places Switzerland among the top 5 OECD countries in terms of regional disparities in employment.

Figure 1: Unemployment rates in large regions, 2022Q2

Figure 2: Change in employment rates in large regions, 2019Q2-2022Q2

Note: Harmonised employment and unemployment rates, aged 15 and over. The OECD median corresponds to the median employment rate in large regions.

Source: OECD (2022), “Short-term regional statistics”, OECD Regional Statistics (database)

Trends in GDP per capita prior to COVID-19

Between 2018 and 2019, GDP per capita increased in most Swiss regions. In 2019, Ticino, a region with a GDP per capita 5% above the national average (72 461 vs. 68 853 USD PPP), experienced the largest increase in GDP among Swiss regions, of approximately 2%.

Figure 3: GDP per capita in large regions, 2019

Figure 4: % change in GDP per capita in large regions, 2018-2019

Note: GDP per capita is measured in constant prices and constant PPPs, reference year 2015. Constant prices are calculated using national deflators. The OECD median corresponds to the median decline in GDP per capita observed across OECD large regions over the period.

Source: OECD (2022), “Regional economy”, OECD Regional Statistics (database)

Trends in regional economic disparities in the last decade

Differences between Swiss regions in terms of GDP per capita have remained relatively stable over the past nine years, with the richest 20% of regions reporting a GDP per capita 1.4 times higher than the poorest 20% of regions.

Figure 5: Index of regional disparities in GDP per capita (richest 20% relative to poorest 20% of regions)