Public welfare services in Switzerland have evolved in a way typical of federalism, developing first in the communes, then in the cantons, and later in the confederation. Social welfare support is primarily a communal task, sometimes in cooperation with the cantons. Social insurance, which had existed in some communes, was introduced at the federal level by a series of constitutional amendments, the most important of which was compulsory social-security insurance (introduced in 1948). Financed through the contributions of workers and their employers, as well as smaller contributions from the cantons and the confederation, social-security insurance provides annuities and pension allowances to senior citizens (men over 65 and women over 62) and to widows, orphans, and invalids. Because this legislation did not cover the cost of living, a system of mandatory occupational pensions was later introduced, financed by both employers and employees. In 1985 a voluntary employee-funded private pension plan was established, encouraged by tax incentives.

Unemployment insurance is federal, financed by contributions from employees and employers. Health insurance is compulsory; though a legal framework has been established on the federal level, the health system is largely organized along cantonal lines, and health contributions vary considerably between cantons. The Swiss Confederation and the cantons together finance additional support for the destitute out of general revenues. Overall, the level of social welfare spending is substantial, accounting for more than one-fourth of total expenditures, and care and services are among the best in the world.

Drug use is considered an important health problem, with many youths regularly using marijuana and other drugs. To resolve drug-related issues, Switzerland adopted a unique approach, controlling drug delivery to the severely addicted without legalizing drugs. The strategy has resulted in better care for addicts, a reduction in the drug-abuse rate, and an increase in public safety.

Housing

Because of its distinct cultural differences, Switzerland provides varied examples of geographic settlement patterns, with traditional housing types differing from one region to another. For example, smooth stone houses are typical in the Engadin, small stone buildings in Ticino, the combination house and barn in the Mittelland, the distinctive shingled facades in Appenzell, and the wooden villages of the valleys of Valais canton.

The housing stock in Switzerland is relatively modern, with more than two-thirds built since 1947. Despite the country’s high population density, dwellings are fairly large; about one-fourth of homes have more than five rooms. With about one-third of all dwellings owner occupied, Switzerland has among the lowest home ownership rates in Europe. This low figure is partially the result of the country’s high population density and scarce land, which has inflated the value of land, combined with an unequal income distribution—factors that have made it impossible for a majority of the population to acquire a dwelling.

Education

Switzerland’s 1874 constitution gave sovereignty over education to each canton or demicanton. Elementary education is free and compulsory between the ages of 7 and 16. The confederation provides financial assistance for vocational training and the cantonal universities, regulates examinations for the professions, and influences the curriculum of the secondary schools. The only institutions of higher education maintained by the confederation itself are the Federal Institutes of Technology at Zürich (founded 1855) and Lausanne (founded 1853 and federalized 1969). Among the country’s most prominent institutions are the Universities of Basel (founded 1460), Bern (established as a seminary in 1528 and as a university in 1834), Geneva (founded 1559), Lausanne (founded 1537), and Zürich (founded 1833). The interior department in Bern administers education, and there is an education department in every canton.

The combination of an Alpine landscape, the pedagogic reputation of educational theorists such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, and Jean Piaget, and the multicultural nature of the country has prompted many private schools, at all levels, to locate in Switzerland.

Cultural milieu

Although Switzerland is small and relatively isolated from more well-recognized cultural centres, it nevertheless can boast an impressive list of contributors to the arts and sciences. For example, Switzerland has won more Nobel Prizes and registered more patents per capita than any other country, and the country abounds in cultural institutions, museums, and libraries, all well supported with federal funds. However, because of limited opportunities at home, some of Switzerland’s most creative minds—for example, architect Le Corbusier and painter Paul Klee—went elsewhere to work. On the other hand, Switzerland’s traditional neutrality and its laws of political asylum have made the country a magnet for many creative persons during times of unrest or war in Europe. For example, writers such as the English poet George Byron, the Irish novelist James Joyce, the Romanian-born French poet Tristan Tzara, and the French writer Voltaire resided in Switzerland, and, in the 1930s and ’40s, the rise of fascism caused a number of German, Austrian, and Italian writers such as Thomas Mann, Stefan George, and Ignazio Silone to seek harbour in Switzerland.

Switzerland’s geographic centrality in Europe is reflected in its role as Helvetia mediatrix (“Switzerland the mediator”). The spirit of Henri Dunant, the founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross, lives on in the continued sense of a distinct mission of cultural union that is shared by many Swiss, a mission also revealed in the country’s extensive foreign-assistance programs for less-developed countries. Since the 1990s, with the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the bipolar division of the world, Switzerland has had to reevaluate and redefine this traditional role. It can no longer serve as a go-between for the major power blocs; instead, international peace initiatives are often now embedded in institutions such as the UN or the EU, and, until it joined the UN in 2002, Switzerland was a member of neither.

If a “Swiss culture” can be spoken of in its broader implications beyond the arts, distinctive French, Italian, and German cultural circles must be recognized, as well as a Rhaeto-Romanic culture, which has been threatened by the increasing influence of the German language in the Romansh parts of eastern Switzerland, spread largely through the medium of television. It is mostly the common political and institutional visions—federalism, direct democracy, individualism, and the will not to be dominated by the surrounding large, often centralist countries—that both unite the Swiss and constitute their culture.

Some see the influence of the mass media as a threat to Swiss culture and tradition, both because of its homogenizing effects and because the different language groups can now receive and be influenced by television and radio in their respective cultural hearths of Germany, France, and Italy. These critics stress the important role of the national radio and television corporation in maintaining and nurturing a common understanding among all Swiss.