Swiss cantons step up efforts to tackle child poverty

Swiss cantons and cities have decided to strengthen social welfare services and increase basic needs provisions for children in poverty. + Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox The social welfare rate for under-18s is 4.8%, the highest of all age groups, as announced in a joint communiqué on Thursday by the Conference of Cantonal Directors of Social Affairs, the Swiss Conference for Social Welfare and the Cities Initiative for Social Policy. This means that around 76,000 children and young people in Switzerland were dependent on social welfare in 2022. The three bodies commissioned a study from the Bureau for Labor and Social Policy Studies in order to obtain a comprehensive picture of children on social welfare. + Poverty misunderstood in wealthy Switzerland The study came to the conclusion that there is a need for action in terms of the amount and structure of social welfare benefits. This is because these contributions are “insufficient” to guarantee ...