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

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, was in Davos to attend the World Economic Forum 2015.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published today 9 new peer review reports, including a Phase 1 Supplementary Report for Switzerland, demonstrating continuing progress toward implementation of the international standard for exchange of information on request.

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.

Specific country notes have been prepared using data from the database OECD Health Statistics 2015, July 2015 version. The notes are available in PDF format.

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

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.

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.

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.

The most attractive OECD countries for highly qualified potential immigrants are Australia, Sweden, Switzerland, New Zealand and Canada, in part because of favourable admission and stay conditions.

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.

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.

This note is taken from Chapter 2 of Economic Policy Reforms: Going for Growth 2012.

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.

Gains in female education attainment have contributed to a worldwide increase in women’s participation in the labour force, but considerable gaps remain in working hours, conditions of employment and earnings.  More specific data for South Africa are available in this country note.

The Secretary-General of the OECD will be in South Africa on 4th March 2013 on an Official Visit. On this occasion, he will present the 2013 OECD Economic Survey of South Africa together with Mr. Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan, Minister of Finance.

South Africa must step up efforts to foster strong, inclusive economic growth that creates jobs, according to the OECD’s latest Economic Survey of South Africa. Priorities include a growth-enhancing macroeconomic policy-mix, and better implementation of structural reforms, notably to improve education.

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?

In the two decades since apartheid ended, South Africa has made impressive strides to catch up with – and in some cases surpass -- the developed world’s environmental standards.

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.

OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurría, said that it was with a heavy heart and a debt of gratitude that the world was bidding farewell to Nelson Mandela.

South Africa must take urgent steps to proactively investigate and prosecute foreign bribery. No foreign bribery cases have been prosecuted since South Africa joined the Convention in 2007. The 4 on-going investigations – out of only 10 allegations that have surfaced to date – are also far from reaching the prosecution stage, according to a new report by the OECD Working Group on Bribery.

By participating more effectively in the global production of goods and services, Africa can transform its economy and achieve a development breakthrough, according to the latest African Economic Outlook, released at the African Development Bank Group’s Annual Meetings.

This self-assessment report looks at South Africa's investment regime in the light of the OECD Codes of Liberalisation and the principle of National Treatment.

The South African labour market continues to perform poorly compared to OECD and other G20 countries, and the global financial crisis appears to have worsened the situation.