Switzerland: Health System Outcomes

Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births), 2023: 5
Under-five mortality rate (per 1000 live births), 2024: 3.9
Neonatal mortality rate (per 1000 live births), 2024: 2.8
Probability of dying from any of cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease between age 30 and exact age 70 (%), 2021: 7.5%
Prevalence of anaemia in women aged 15-49 years (%), 2023: 16.6%

Source: World health statistics 2026: Monitoring health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals. Tables of health statistics by country and area, WHO region and globally (last accessed May 13, 2026). Geneva: World Health Organization; 2026. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

Life expectancy at birth (in years), 2023: 84.3 years
Main causes of mortality (age-standardized rate per 100,000 population), 2023
– Circulatory system: 175
– Neoplasms: 162
– Respiratory system: 42
– External causes: 40
– Other: 218
Mortality from preventable causes (age-standardized rate per 100,000 population)
– 2023: 80
– 2013: 100
Mortality from treatable causes (age-standardized rate per 100,000 population)
– 2023: 34
– 2013: 47
Maternal mortality (deaths per 100,000 live births)
– 2021-2023: 2.7
– 2011-2013: 4.9
Infant mortality (deaths per 1 000 live births)
– 2021-2023: 3.4
– 2011-2013: 3.8
People aged 15 and over rating their own health as bad or very bad (%), 2024: 4.4%
People aged 15 and over rating their own health as good or very good, by income quintile (%), 2023
– Lowest income quintile: 70.2%
– Highest income quintile: 87.6%

Source: OECD (2025), Health at a Glance 2025: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/8f9e3f98-en.

Life Expectancy at Birth, 2023: 84 years
Under-Five Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births), 2022: 4
Infant Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births), 2022: 4
Neonatal Mortality Rate (per 1,000 live births), 2022: 3
Mortality Rate Among Children Aged 5-14 Years (per 1,000 children aged 5), 2022: 1
Maternal Mortality Ratio (per 100,000 live births), 2020: 7
Lifetime Risk of Maternal Death (1 in x), 2020: 1 in 7,776

Notes: Under-five mortality rate – Probability of dying between birth and exactly 5 years of age, expressed per 1,000 live births.
Infant mortality rate – Probability of dying between birth and exactly 1 year of age, expressed per 1,000 live births.
Neonatal mortality rate – Probability of dying during the first 28 days of life, expressed per 1,000 live births.
Mortality rate (children aged 5 to 14 years) – Probability of dying at age 5–14 years expressed per 1,000 children aged 5.
Maternal mortality ratio – Number of deaths of women from pregnancy-related causes per 100,000 live births during the same time period (modelled estimates).
Lifetime risk of maternal death – Lifetime risk of maternal death takes into account both the probability of becoming pregnant and the probability of dying as a result of that pregnancy, accumulated across a woman’s reproductive years (modelled estimates).

Source: United Nations Children’s Fund, The State of the World’s Children 2024: The Future of Childhood in a Changing World – Statistical Compendium. UNICEF, Nov. 20, 2024.

Life Expectancy at Birth, 2022: 84.25
Infant Mortality Rate, 2022 (per 1,000 live births): 3.10
Under-Five Mortality Rate, 2022 (per 1,000 live births): 3.53

Source: United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2023). Data Portal, custom data acquired via website. United Nations: New York. Accessed 12 May 2023.

Maternal Deaths Per 100,000 Live Births, 2020: 7

Source: Trends in maternal mortality 2000 to 2020: estimates by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, World Bank Group and UNDESA/Population Division. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2023. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO.

“Life expectancy at birth in 2013 was 80.7 years for men and 84.9 years for women (see Table 1.4), with average life expectancy of 82.8 being the second highest in the European Region (after Iceland). This was an increase in overall life expectancy of roughly 7 years compared to 1980, when life expectancy was 75.5 years. While female life expectancy has been above 80 years since 1990, male life expectancy has only surpassed 80 years since 2010.

“The disability-adjusted life expectancy (DALE) in 2012 was 70.5 years for women and 73.8 for men (see Table 1.5). Similarly, in 2012, healthy life year (HLY) expectancy, which is the number of years lived without any long-term activity limitations, was more than a year higher for men (68.6) than for women (67.6), meaning that women on average experience longer periods of sickness during their overall longer lifetime. Both for total life expectancy and for HLY Swiss averages are far above those of the EU28, indicating excellent population health.”

Source: De Pietro C, Camenzind P, Sturny I, Crivelli L, Edwards-Garavoglia S, Spranger A, Wittenbecher F, Quentin W. Switzerland: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(4):1–288.

“Population health indicators are very good in Switzerland. Patients are highly satisfied with the health system, perceive quality to be good or very good, and there are virtually no waiting times. Avoidable hospital admissions are relatively low and OECD quality indicators confirm that health care quality is high – although not exceptional.”

World Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems and policies in the US and eighteen other nations.

Page last updated September 18, 2026 by Doug McVay, Editor.