Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (SILC)
SILC (Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) is a representative survey of households in Switzerland. This instrument aims at studying poverty, social exclusion and living conditions on the basis of indicators that are comparable at the European level.
The SILC survey is carried out yearly. The persons who participate in the survey are interviewed once a year for four consecutive years. This setting aims at describing the important stages in individual trajectories and at studying changes in living conditions.
Have you been contacted by the FSO to take part in the SILC survey? You will find more information about this here: SILC - Persons interviewed
Fact sheet
Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
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Information is collected on the following topics: quality of life, material and social deprivation, financial situation, income, health, satisfaction, risk of poverty, childcare, education, employment.
In addition to the basic questionnaire, one or several specific topics are considered every year:
- 2007: Housing conditions
- 2008: Over-indebtedness and financial exclusion
- 2009: Material deprivation
- 2010: Intra-household sharing of resources
- 2011: Intergenerational transmission of disadvantages
- 2012: Housing conditions
- 2013: Well-being / material deprivation/indebtedness/cultural participation
- 2014: Material deprivation
- 2015: Cultural and social participation/material deprivation / wealth
- 2016: Access to services
- 2017: Health and children’s health / indebtedness
- 2018: Well-being / housing difficulties / material deprivation / wealth
- 2019: Intergenerational transmission of disadvantages
- 2020: Labour / indebtedness / consumption / wealth
- 2021: Deprivation and health of children / Covid-19
- 2022: Health / quality of life (well-being and social and cultural participation)
- 2023: Labour and housing conditions / energy efficiency / intergenerational transmission of disadvantages / housing difficulties
- 2024: Deprivation and health of children / access to services
- 2025: Health
- 2026: Labour and housing condition / over-indebtedness - consumption - wealth
The questionnaires for the current SILC survey and previous years can be viewed and downloaded below under "Questionnaires" (available in French, German and Italian).
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SILC is a European survey that is coordinated by Eurostat. The information to be collected is specified in the European Commission's ordinances and in great detail in a reference document called "DocSILC065 Methodological guidelines and description of EU-SILC target variables". This makes it possible to compare results in over 30 European countries.
To satisfy the needs of other sections of the FSO or other federal bodies, some additional questions may be added to the European questions.
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The SILC survey uses a rotating panel. The selected households are surveyed over a four-year period, with a quarter of the sample being replaced each year, according to the system outlined below.
For example, the 2025 SILC sample consists of roughly equal proportions of:
- Households selected in 2022 that are in their fourth and final interview year (wave 4)
- Households selected in 2023 that are in their third interview year (wave 3)
- Households selected in 2024 that are in their second interview year (wave 2)
- New households selected in 2025 that are in their first interview year (wave 1)
These groups are highlighted blue, by wave (W), in the diagram below.
Transversal data consist of the results obtained during the survey at time T, 2025 in the diagram above, grouping together the households in wave 1-2-3-4. Longitudinal data make it possible to analyse transitions between two years. The household data in wave 1 are therefore not included. Longitudinal data therefore make it possible to analyse the transitions (arrows) between:
- Year T-1 (2024 in this example) and T (2025) for households having responded in T and T-1, i.e. around three quarters of the sample from year T
- Year T-2 (2023) and T for two waves, i.e. half the sample in T
- Year T-3 (2022) and T for one wave, i.e. a quarter of the sample in T
Even if some households are the same in two sets of consecutive transversal data, it is not possible to perform reliable transition analyses. This would require the use of a longitudinal weight that is not present available in the transversal data. Furthermore, identifiers are subject to an anonymization process that makes it impossible to link data between two years.
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Research institutions which would like to carry out special analyses or more detailed analyses of the microdata from the SILC survey may make an official request to obtain these. Although these data are completely anonymous and the protection of personal data is guaranteed, it is nonetheless essential that users sign a data protection agreement.
Microdata are made up of data sheets from individual or household levels containing the Eurostat variables and some extra information for Switzerland, giving a total of roughly 800 variables. To guarantee the anonymity of the results, some variables are only available grouped into categories (e.g. by nationality: Swiss - foreign nationals) or limited to a maximum value (for example, age limit of 80 for persons aged over 80). Geographic data beyond major region level are not available as standard. Some more detailed geographic data may be obtained on request after evaluation by the FSO.
The cross-sectional microdata data are available for every year from 2007. Longitudinal data are available from 2017.
Obtaining one or several microdata sets requires the signature of all users of a data protection agreement. If interested, requests may be made to the SILC information service (info.silc@bfs.admin.ch). Please include the form below to order the data.
The information requested in this form will make it possible to consider the match between the SILC microdata and the project and will enable requests to be redirected if necessary. At the end of the contract, a confirmation of destruction of the data will be required.
The EU-SILC microdata from all the countries are available from Eurostat free of charge but may only be obtained if the applicant is recognised as a research entity by Eurostat (you will find further information in the Eurostat document « How to apply for microdata access ? »).
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This content is not available in English. The German version is provided instead.
Formular zur Bestellung von SILC-Mikrodaten mit Datenschutzvertrag
Questionnaires
Every year, some 8,000 households, or around 18,000 people, are surveyed in Switzerland. The response burden is lightened from the second year of the survey onwards, because some information only needs to be collected once.
The questionnaires are available in French, German and Italian.
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This content is not available in English. The German version is provided instead.
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Further information
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Further information (in German):
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Other reports are available in French and German.
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Other reports are available in French and German.
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