Government at a Glance 2023: Switzerland

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Trust and satisfaction with public services

Trust in public institutions and satisfaction with public services are important yardsticks of the quality of public governance. They reflect people’s perceptions of government competence in designing and delivering policies and services, and expectations on the behaviour of public institutions and their representatives. Although high trust in public institutions is not a necessary outcome of democratic governance, trust and satisfaction with public services facilitate effective governance, as they correlate with high rates of compliance with policies, participation in public life and social cohesion.

Satisfaction with public services is exceptionally high in Switzerland. A large majority (92%) reported being satisfied with the health care system. Similarly high levels are shown in satisfaction with education (84%) and the judiciary (84%), well above the respective averages across OECD countries (67% and 56%, respectively).

Achieving results with good governance practices 

In an age of multiple crises, governments need to adopt more advanced practices to build trust in public institutions and enhance democratic resilience. Actions include building on democratic strengths, such as enhancing citizen and stakeholder engagement in decision making; reinforcing key competences to handle crises, such as budgeting and public financial management processes to address the green and digital transitions; and protecting against threats to democratic values, such as maintaining effective public integrity rules and promoting ethical use of artificial intelligence.

Citizen and stakeholder engagement in decision making helps to improve the design, implementation, and public acceptance of policies, infrastructure and services. The OECD Infrastructure Governance Index (IGI) on stakeholder participation provides an overview of countries’ performance in developing national guidance for stakeholder engagement, promoting their effective participation, and ensuring stakeholder oversight over infrastructure projects.

With a score of 0.76, on a 0-1 scale, Switzerland is the third best performer in the IGI on stakeholder participation among the surveyed countries, and well above the OECD average (0.52). While Switzerland fares well in all dimensions of stakeholder participation, the score on stakeholder participation practices (0.29 out of a maximum value of 0.33) is well above the OECD average (0.17).

Budgeting management processes, such as green budgeting, can help address the climate crisis and achieve environmental goals. While there has been a rapid increase in the number of countries implementing green budgeting mechanisms, these could be used more effectively. Green budgeting mechanisms include institutional arrangements to assess the environmental impacts of budgetary and fiscal policies, methods for evaluating their consistency, mechanisms to enhance transparency and accountability, and an enabling budgetary governance framework.

With a score of 0.20, Switzerland performs well below the OECD average on green budgeting (1 is the maximum possible score, meaning full application of green budgeting). It is the lowest score in the OECD Green Budgeting Index out of 24 surveyed OECD countries. The dimension methods and tools is close to the OECD average. However, Switzerland achieves low scores in institutional arrangements, accountability and transparency, and enabling environment.

Financial contributions allow individuals and entities to support political candidates and parties. However, political finance needs to be adequately regulated to reduce risks of undue influence and policy capture.

In Switzerland foreign states or enterprises are not allowed to finance political campaigns and parties, but no bans are imposed on publicly owned enterprises. In turn, anonymous donations to political parties are banned, and all contributions to political parties and campaigns must be registered and reported.

Figure 4. Regulation to ban financing political parties and election campaigns, 2022

What resources public institutions use and how they are managed 

After stark deterioration due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which required emergency measures and direct support mechanisms to business and people, public finances show positive signs, but the recovery remains fragile. The fiscal balance is the difference between a government’s revenues and its expenditures in a year. When the government spends more than it collects, it has a fiscal deficit. When it spends less, it has a fiscal surplus.

In 2021, Switzerland had a fiscal deficit of -0.5% in 2021, considerably smaller than the average across OECD countries (-7.5%). In addition, Switzerland has one of the lowest public debts as a share of GDP (41.1%), compared to the OECD average (120.8%) in 2021.

Public investment can enhance productivity and economic growth and help implement long-term policies, such as green energy infrastructure to support action on climate change. In turn, governments procure large amounts of goods, services and works to help them implement policies and deliver public services.

Switzerland spent below the OECD average on public procurement in 2021, 9.6% of GDP compared to 12.9%. With 3.3% of GDP spent on public investment in 2021, Switzerland aligns with the OECD average of 3.4%.

The size of public employment varies significantly among OECD countries, ranging from around 10% to just above 30%. 

Switzerland has one of the lowest rates of public employment as a percentage of total employment (11.2%), 7 percentage points below the OECD average.

Governments use different mechanisms to harness and develop the capacity of their workforce. For example, internal mobility in public administrations helps to pool human resources across government and attract and retain civil servants.

In Switzerland, as in most OECD countries, internal mobility is possible for civil servants but not encouraged. Similarly, internal mobility is also possible for senior-level civil servants, although it is not encouraged or expected. Conversely, currently, no individual learning plans are developed for public employees.

Equal representation of women and men in the public sector is a key indicator of progress towards gender equality, diversity and better representation. In 2020, a majority of employees in the public sector in OECD countries were women (58.9%), with large differences among countries. However, women are often under-represented in managerial positions.

With 43% women in ministerial positions, Switzerland fares above the OECD average (36%), but below gender parity.

Young people are under-represented in public and political life across the OECD, with the risk that their voice and interests are not sufficiently taken in consideration in policymaking.

The average age of cabinet members in Switzerland is 62 years, 9 years higher than on average across OECD countries (53 years).

About the report 

Government at a Glance presents the most up-to-date internationally comparable data on how public administrations function and perform in OECD countries, accession countries, and other major economies. Country factsheets highlight key indicators against the OECD average. Data included in the factsheets are derived from the new Government at a Glance data portal, which allows for a more user-friendly and interactive way of comparing countries with each other and the OECD average. The factsheets do not provide a comprehensive picture of public governance performance, but rather a snapshot of key indicators in the three sections of the publication: a) trust and satisfaction with public services; b) achieving results with good governance practices and c) what resources public institutions use and how they are managed. 

Figure notes

People who express satisfaction with public services: for the judiciary and the courts the data reflect the proportion of citizens who express having confidence in the institution. Data on satisfaction with administrative services come from the OECD 2021 Survey on the Drivers of Trust in Public Institutions. Data on satisfaction with the education and health systems and confidence in the judiciary are from the Gallup World Poll. Data for satisfaction in administrative services are not available for Switzerland.

Data on public finance and economics are derived from the System of National Accounts (SNA) and were extracted on 5 May 2023.

Fiscal balance as reported in SNA framework, also referred to as net lending (+) or net borrowing (-) of government, is calculated as total government revenues minus total government expenditures.

Government gross debt is reported according to the SNA definition, which differs from the definition applied under the Maastricht Treaty. It is defined as all liabilities that require payment or payments of interest or principal by the debtor to the creditor at a date or dates in the future. All debt instruments are liabilities, but some liabilities such as shares, equity and financial derivatives are not debt.

Public employment refers to employment in the general government as defined in the System of National Accounts (SNA). Data on employment in general government were extracted on 17 April 2023.

Data on employment in general government for Iceland, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Türkiye and the United States are from the International Labour Organization (ILO), ILOSTAT.

Data show women as a share of cabinet members who head ministries as of 1 January 2023 (excluding ministers without portfolios).

The data on age of cabinet members reflects the situation as of 20 December 2022.

OECD average refers to the unweighted average with the exception of public finance indicators.

For more information see www.oecd.org/governance/government-at-a-glance.htm