Switzerland is well known for its competitive taxes, high salaries and excellent standards of living. This has attracted many millionaires over the years: the question is, where in Switzerland do they choose to live?
Currently, Switzerland has the fourth-highest number of millionaires in the world, with estimates from Credit Suisse finding that around 810.000 people in the country have a net worth of over one million US dollars. While this figure is dwarfed by the US (15 million) and China (1,3 million), Switzerland’s small population means that it has more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in the world, at 62 for every 1.000 taxpayers.
While the whole of Switzerland is attractive to the super-rich, Blick reports that Canton Zug and Schwyz have the most millionaires per capita. According to their research, one in eight people in Canton Zug are millionaires.
Zurich is the Swiss canton with the most millionaires in total, but because of its larger population, has "only" 92 millionaires per 1.000 taxpayers, dropping it to fifth place. The French-speaking canton with the most millionaires was Geneva, with 62 per 1.000. Overall, the number of super-rich residents in Switzerland has increased dramatically since the 1960s, from 11 millionaires per 1.000 in 1969 to 62 today.
The question of why millionaires choose to live in these cantons can be divided into aesthetics and taxes. On the one hand, Zug and Schwyz have stunning mountains and enchanting vistas that would befit any multi-million-franc home.
On the other, Zug and Schwyz have some of the lowest taxes and business taxes in Switzerland, and by extension in Europe. Nidwalden, which now has the lowest business tax rates in the world, has a growing millionaire population as a result.
Speaking to Blick, economist and professor Christoph Schaltegger said that this phenomenon was ultimately good for these cantons as it steers people away from large financial centres like Zurich and Basel. "It gives remote and structurally weak regions the opportunity to compete against attractive metropolitan areas," he concluded.