National Municipality Monitoring 2024
Results of the current National Municipality Monitoring show that Swiss municipalities consider themselves to be performing well, and they only experience problems in certain areas.
Perceived autonomy has increased since the last survey and the financial situation is stable. However, spatial planning, care of asylum seekers, and digitalization are problems for the municipalities. They rely heavily on cooperation with other municipalities to provide services, while the peak in municipal mergers seems to have been reached. Municipal politics is dominated by the politically independent and males – the average age of a municipal executive is a high 54 years, and this figure has already increased by two years since the last survey.
About National Municipality Monitoring
As part of the National Municipality Monitoring program, all municipal clerks have been surveyed about the state and development of their municipality every five years since 1988. Eighty-three percent of Swiss municipalities took part in the latest survey in 2023.
For the third time, all members of the executive boards of Swiss municipalities were also surveyed as part of the executive survey to gather their political views. The ZHAW School of Management and Law (SML) and the University of Lausanne conducted these surveys jointly.
Contact
Prof. Dr. Reto Steiner, ZHAW School of Management and Law, Phone +41 (0) 58 934 79 44, Email reto.steiner@zhaw.ch
Dr. Claire Kaiser, ZHAW School of Management and Law, Public Networks and Service Delivery, Phone +41 (0) 58 934 40 74, Email claire.kaiser@zhaw.ch
Jana Machljankin, ZHAW School of Management and Law, Public Networks and Service Delivery, Phone +41 (0) 58 934 68 59, Email jana.machljankin@zhaw.ch