Only a small minority of the wealthiest Swiss citizens are self-made, according to a study.

A study by Swiss Institute for Economic Research (KOF) claims that only 8% of the 300 richest Swiss citizens earned their wealth themselves. The results of the study reported in the SonntagsZeitung newpaper on Sunday also reveals that eight out of ten rich people acquired their wealth through inheritance. An overwhelming 90% of the super-rich are men, with the proportion of women tending to decrease rather than increase.

Another study, quoted by the NZZ am Sonntag, shows a wide gap in the social distribution of inheritances in general in Switzerland. Three quarters of heirs receive no more than CHF100,000 (about $112,470) per inheritance, according to a study by Marius Brülhart, a professor at the University of Lausanne’s Faculty of Business Administration (HEC). Only 1.5% of inheritances exceed one million francs.

by BezugssystemCH1903

6 comments

  1. I mean hardly a surprise! Though 1.5% exceeding average of 100k seems pretty low with the value of average property.

  3. The amount of self-made or not self-made is completely irrelevant to the discussion in the first place.

    The inheritance-tax will affect not a single self-made person, because they will be dead by the time it has to be paid, therefor they do not have to pay a single Rappen. It has to be paid by their children, who by definition are not self-made, but inheritors.

    It will by definition only affect the rich people who inherit their fortunes, they will have to pay tax on their inheritance.

    I don’t get it, it’s so obvious, but people pretend not to understand it.

  4. this house isn’t going to buy itself. wait, what do you mean it will?

  5. To be truly honest, Switzerland never claimed to promise the American Dream.

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