The secretary-General attended the World Economic Forum 2014 Davos where he delivered remarks in different sessions and held bilateral meetings with officials from several countries attending the Forum.

Switzerland needs to do more to help people with mental disorders find a job or stay in work, according to a new OECD report.

Switzerland provided USD 3 billion in official development assistance (ODA) in 2012, or 0.45% of its gross national income (GNI), in line with its goal to reach 0.5% of GNI by 2015.

This note presents key findings for Switzerland from Society at a Glance 2014 - OECD Social indicators. This 2014 publication also provides a special chapter on: the crisis and its aftermath: a “stress test” for societies and for social policies.

Obesity rates are low in Switzerland, relative to most OECD countries. 9% of adults are obese in Switzerland, while nearly 38% are overweight (including obesity).

Switzerland has high employment rates and low unemployment. The overall employment rate remained stable since the start of the crisis and stands at 79% (first quarter of 2014), the second highest in the OECD after Iceland, well above the OECD average of 65.6%. As for unemployment, among OECD countries only Japan, Korea, and Norway have lower unemployment rates.

Biographical note of Switzerland's Permanent Representative to the OECD.

Country notes with main key findings of the book and key fact tables: a customised snapshot of a country's educational environment, highlighting the most important issues in the educational landscape.

According to a new OECD report, variations in health care use across the cantons in Switzerland need to be consider the potential of over- and underuse of health services and raise questions about the efficiency and equity of health care services delivered in Switzerland.

Switzerland should do more to help older people, especially women, work longer in order to meet the challenge of a rapidly ageing population, according to a new OECD report.

This publication highlights new evidence on policies to support job creation, bringing together the latest research on labour market, entrepreneurship and local economic development policy to help governments support job creation in the recovery. It also includes a set of country pages featuring, among other things, new data on skills supply and demand at the level of smaller OECD regions (TL3).

Switzerland has today become the 52nd jurisdiction to sign the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement, which will allow it to go forward with plans to activate automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters with other countries beginning in 2018.

The tax burden in Switzerland increased by 0.2 percentage points from 26.9% to 27.1% in 2013. The OECD average was an increase of 0.4 percentage points from 33.7% to 34.1%. The Swiss standard VAT rate is 8%, which is one of the lowest standard VAT rates in the OECD and considerably below the OECD average. The average VAT/GST standard rate in the OECD was 19.1% on 1 January 2014

Going for Growth 2015: Key findings for Switzerland

Switzerland should reduce trade barriers and limit the level of direct payments to farmers, as part of wider efforts to improve competitiveness of the agriculture sector, according to a new OECD report.

Water resources allocation determines who is able to use water resources, how, when and where. Capturing information from 27 OECD countries and key partner economies, the report presents key findings from the OECD Survey of Water Resources Allocation and case studies of successful allocation reform.

Levels of alcohol consumption in Switzerland have decreased in the last 30 years, but are still above the OECD average. In 2012, an average of 9.9 litres of pure alcohol per capita is consumed in Switzerland, compared with an estimate of 9.1 litres in the OECD.

Die Gesundheitsausgaben in der Schweiz sind hoch und der Ausgabenanstieg hat sich in den letzten Jahren beschleunigt. Der Marktanteil von Generika in der Schweiz ist relativ gering; die verstärkte Förderung bei Verschreibung und Abgabe von Generika könnte den Anstieg bei den Arzneimittelausgaben verlangsamen.

The 2015 edition introduces more detailed analysis of participation in early childhood and tertiary levels of education. The report also examines first generation tertiary-educated adults’ educational and social mobility, labour market outcomes for recent graduates, and participation in employer-sponsored formal and/or non-formal education.

Switzerland’s recent economic performance has been impressive, but with growth now slowing new reforms will be necessary to maintain high levels of prosperity and ensure future well-being, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Switzerland.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum) published today 10 new peer review reports demonstrating continuing progress toward implementation of the international standard for exchange of information on request.

Education at a Glance 2016 - Country Notes

This country note provides an environmental tax and carbon pricing profile for Switzerland. It shows environmentally related tax revenues, taxes on energy use and effective carbon rates.

This country note presents student performance in science, reading and mathematics, and measures equity in education in Switzerland. The interactive charts allow you to compare results with other countries participating in the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).

The Secretary-General participated in several sessions of the World Economic Forum on a wide range of policy issues and also held bilateral meetings with a number of Forum participants.

Switzerland enjoys the joint second highest life expectancy at birth among OECD countries, achieved through a generously funded health system. Smoking and alcohol rates are slightly above the OECD average, but obesity rates are very low, with rates among adults only lower in Japan and Korea. While mandatory insurance is in place, high out-of-pocket spending impedes access to care.

The Swiss economy has shown considerable resilience to shocks, but economic growth remains slow, and per capita income levels still hover at levels attained before the global economic crisis. Further reforms are needed to restore productivity growth, boost incomes and ensure that today’s high living standards and levels of well-being are passed on to future generations, according to a new report from the OECD.

This note presents selected country highlights from the OECD Science, Technology and Industry Scoreboard 2017 with a specific focus on digital trends among all themes covered.

The OECD’s third Environmental Performance Review of Switzerland finds that despite being one of the greenest OECD countries in terms of energy supply, greenhouse gas emissions and domestic material consumption per unit of GDP, Switzerland urgently needs to address pressures on its biodiversity.

Key findings for Switzerland from the report "Pensions at a Glance 2017"

This paper analyses the reform of Switzerland’s agricultural policy framework, which reoriented subsidies to better target policy objectives, including for biodiversity; and outlines the process involved in designing and implementing the reform as well as its environmental and socio-economic impacts. The country study draws on the 2017 OECD report The Political Economy of Biodiversity Policy Reform.

The OECD Working Group on Bribery has just completed a review of Switzerland's enforcement of the Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions and related instruments. The Working Group welcomes the significant level of enforcement by the Federal Office of the Attorney General. Switzerland has cracked down on the bribery of foreign public officials in recent years.

This note presents marginal effective tax rates (METRs) that summarise the tax system’s impact on the incentives to make an additional investment in a particular type of savings. By comparing METRs on different types of household savings, we can gain insights into which assets or savings types receive the most favourable treatment from the tax system.

The Co-operative Research Programme (CRP)'s Call for Applications for conference sponsorship and research fellowships for funding in 2019 is now CLOSED. The CRP supports work on sustainable use of natural resources in agriculture, forests, fisheries and food production.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in Geneva from 22 to 24 August 2018 to attend various meetings of the World Economic Forum (WEF), including the Summer Meeting of the International Business Council of the WEF.

This country note for Switzerland provides detail on the proportion of CO2 emissions from energy use subject to different effective carbon rates (ECR), as well as on the level and components of average ECRs in each of the six economic sectors (road transport, off-road transport, industry, agriculture and fishing, residential & commercial, and electricity).

The digital revolution, globalisation and demographic changes are transforming labour markets at a time when policy makers are also struggling with slow productivity and wage growth and high levels of income inequality. The new OECD Jobs Strategy provides a comprehensive framework and policy recommendations to help countries address these challenges.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in Davos, Switzerland, from 21st to 25th January 2019 to attend the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF).While in Davos, the Secretary-General will participate in several sessions and meet with several government and business leaders attending.

This country note explains how Switzerland taxes energy use. The note shows the distribution of effective energy tax rates across all domestic energy use. It also details the country-specific assumptions made when calculating effective energy tax rates and matching tax rates to the corresponding energy base.

Switzerland enjoys some of the highest per-capita GDP and living standards of OECD countries. Taking action now to prepare for a fast-ageing population will be key for the prosperity and well-being of future generations, according to a new OECD report.

Government at a Glance provides a dashboard of key indicators to help you analyse international comparisons of public sector performance.

Key findings for Switzerland from the report "Pensions at a Glance 2019"

The tax-to-GDP ratio in Switzerland decreased by 0.5 percentage points from 28.4% in 2017 to 27.9% in 2018. The corresponding figure for the OECD average was a slight increase of 0.1 percentage point from 34.2% to 34.3% over the same period.

This note presents selected findings based on the set of well-being indicators published in How's Life? 2020.

The tax wedge for the average single worker in Switzerland increased by 0.1 percentage points from 22.2 in 2018 to 22.3 in 2019. The OECD average tax wedge in 2019 was 36.0 (2018, 36.1). In 2019 Switzerland had the 33rd lowest tax wedge among the 36 OECD member countries, occupying the same position in 2018.

The UN Conference (28 November-9 December 2011) involved OECD experts to focus on green growth and climate change, adaptation and mitigation, carbon accounting, improving transparency (“MRV”), climate finance and technology.

How can government policies move towards increasing agricultural innovation and improving productivity? This OECD conference shared case studies and ideas from Europe, China, United States, India, Africa, Brazil, Australia and New Zealand.

At the Global Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, delegates from 81 jurisdictions and 11 international organisations evaluated whether all Forum members are exchanging tax information effectively.

In 2010 South Africa became the first African country to host the FIFA soccer World Cup, which is one of the biggest global sporting events on earth. Was it a triumph and what lessons could be drawn?

The world badly needs great leaders. The tragedy of Mandela’s passing is that it underlines the rarity of his extraordinary combination of courage, commitment, charisma, intelligence, self-sacrifice and, rarest of all, wisdom.