One-third of Swiss live in single-person households: report

More than one-third of Swiss households are now made up of just one person and homes of five or more continue to disappear, newly-published government statistics for 2017 showed this week.

Of the almost 3.7 million households in the country, the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) reported that 35 percent are single-person.

"Almost one third were two-person households, which represents 29 percent of the permanent resident population. The average household size was 2.23 persons," said the report.

This does not represent an immense change since the turn of the 21st century, but the report said there are clear longer-term demographic and living changes in Switzerland.

About 90 years earlier, in 1930, the FSO shows, just 2 percent of Swiss people lived alone, while over half the population lived in households of five or more.

Today, 14 percent of the overall population live in homes containing five or more residents. This accounts for some 6 percent of all households in the country.

Overall, the figures fall broadly in line with European trends, which also show shifts towards lone-living and smaller households.

Across the entire European Union, according to Eurostat figures, single-person households are the most common type, at 33.6 percent.

The FSO found that for single-parent homes, the nationwide average last year stood at 6 percent of households. Geneva, with 8.9 percent, had the highest number.

By contrast, the European rate of lone parent homes is 15 percent, more than twice the Swiss figure, Swissinfo, the website of the national broadcaster reported.