Why now
The care system
is quietly moving into living rooms.
Four shifts are happening at once in Switzerland. None is new on its own; together they change who is actually delivering care.
01More people need care, and they want to stay home
Switzerland’s oldest age groups are growing faster than any others, and most people want to remain at home for as long as they can.
source: BFS, population by age · Pro Senectute, Betreuung · VASOS, Angehörigenpflege
02Care is already moving out of institutions
Home care in Switzerland reached a record in 2024: 25.6 million hours of care, delivered to around 424,000 people — roughly 10% more than the year before, the largest rise since 2011. The federal statistics office attributes much of that growth to the rising number of family caregivers now formally employed by care providers.
03There aren’t enough professionals to absorb it
The nursing shortage is documented and politically acknowledged. In 2021, Swiss voters approved the Pflegeinitiative — a constitutional response to it.
04So families absorb it — without ever being given tools
Unpaid care by relatives is one of the largest contributions to the Swiss care system, and one of the least visible. Digital health investment has gone to clinics, records and patients. The family caregiver has been designed around, not designed for.
source:BAG, caring relatives · BAG, financial security (PDF)
**All figures on this page come from publicly available Swiss statistics and are linked to their source.