According to a study by real estate consultant Iazi for the Handelszeitung, it is much worse to live in French-speaking Switzerland than across the Sarine. No municipality in French-speaking Switzerland appears in the top 50 of Swiss cities in terms of quality of life and development.
Pregny-Chambésy (GE) in 63rd place, Saint-Sulpice (VD) in 69th, Carouge (GE) in 73rd place and Lutry (VD) in 95th are the only four French-speaking municipalities to appear in the 100 of the second edition of the ranking of the “best municipalities in Switzerland”, published on Wednesday on the website of the German-speaking weekly.
Taxation among the criteria
Presented as the “most complete” study of its kind carried out at the national level, this hit parade was established on the basis of around fifty criteria such as taxation, the offer of leisure and educational establishments, the support for the elderly, crèches, the number of jobs, security, transport, real estate and even ecology.
For each criterion, the municipalities obtained a ranking between 1st and 944th place, the latter corresponding to the number of localities examined (only cities from 2000 inhabitants were taken into account).
Zug trio in the lead
In addition, the result is unequivocal for the Latin municipalities: French-speaking Switzerland like Ticino – for which only Collina d’Oro, 90th, is found in the top 100 – are largely in the tail wagon.
At the head are the municipalities of Zug, Zurich and central Switzerland. The Cham, Zug and Risch trio from Zug occupy the first three places, like last year, but in a slightly different order since Cham has dislodged Risch from 1st place. Altendorf (SZ) arrives (4th), Meggen (LU) 6th and Hergiswil (NW) 8th. The other cities in the top 10 are all from Zug.
Large number of Bernese municipalities in the depths
At the bottom of the list (942nd and 943rd respectively) are two municipalities in the Bernese Jura, Valbirse and Tramelan, just ahead of the Solothurn red lantern Mümliswil-Ramiswil. Grône (VS) is 941st, Le Locle (NE) 936th, Chalais (VS) 930th, Sainte-Croix (VD) 928th and Riviera (TI) 927th.
A large number of Bernese municipalities – excluding the Bernese Jura – and Solothurn appear in the depths of the classification, but no city in Zurich or in central Switzerland.
Felt of the inhabitants not taken into account
The authors of the study note that they adopted a rigorously statistical approach. Municipalities are in competition with each other, they point out.
“A high quality of life, low taxation and ease of access increase the attractiveness of cities, but that does not mean that remote municipalities cannot score points when they develop their infrastructures”, considers the responsible for the study Christof Zöllig, quoted on the website of the Zurich weekly.
He specifies that he only took into account verifiable figures and data, and in no way the subjectivity and feelings of the inhabitants.
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