CHE · snapshot 2026-08-09

Switzerland

Low

Overall risk score

16.2

Percentile of scored universe

2th

Data coverage

94%

vs Australia (16.1)

+0.1

Category breakdown

Political Stability & Governance

Low
8.7-4.0 vs AU

6 indicators · 100% coverage

Economic Resilience

Low
18.6+7.6 vs AU

6 indicators · 85% coverage

Financial & Currency Risk

Low
5.9+0.0 vs AU

5 indicators · 100% coverage

Business Environment

Medium
40.0+5.1 vs AU

3 indicators · 75% coverage

Security & Crime

Low
22.5-2.6 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Climate & Social Compliance

Low
4.4-5.9 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Technology & Digital

Low
14.2+0.5 vs AU

4 indicators · 100% coverage

Cultural Distance

Low
40.2+39.4 vs AU

9 indicators · 100% coverage · not in overall score

Key risks and considerations

Switzerland rates Low for market entry — an overall risk score of 16.2, less risky than 98% of rated economies and 0 points riskier than Australia.

The main risk driver is no investment-treaty protection with Australia.

Relative strengths: rule of law and control of corruption both sit in the least-risky quarter of rated economies, and sovereign credit risk rates Low, the least-risky rating band.

Possible mitigations

  • Payment fraud. Experts nominate this market as a cybercrime origin (World Cybercrime Index, 2021 survey): verify any change of bank details out-of-band, enforce MFA and dual authorisation on payments, and be sceptical of unsolicited counterparties.
  • Cultural bridging. Large cultural distance: invest in local partners, bilingual advisers, and longer relationship-building timelines — assume negotiation and management norms differ materially.

Generated automatically from this snapshot’s indicator data — a starting point for analysis, not advice.

Indicators

IndicatorValueRisk scoreRating
Political Stability & Governance
Voice & accountability (WGI)85.63.7Low
Government effectiveness (WGI)87.13.2Low
Regulatory quality (WGI)82.83.2Low
Rule of law (WGI)87.31.7Low
Control of corruption (WGI)88.51.7Low
Political stability & absence of violence/terrorism (WGI PV)82.618.1Low
Economic Resilience
GDP growth (3-yr average, %)1.2% (3-yr avg)15.0Low
Growth volatility (10-yr std dev, pp)±2.2 pp21.4Low
Government net debt (% of GDP)19.210.0Low
Inflation (CPI %, vs income-group target)0.235.0Medium
Current account (3-yr average, % of GDP)7.2% (3-yr avg)15.0Low
FX reserves (months of import cover)Insufficient data
GDP per capita (PPP, current intl $)$102,5133.8Low
Financial & Currency Risk
Capital-account openness (Chinn-Ito KAOPEN)1.005.0Low
Currency stability (regime-aware classification)Floating — low volatility (<8%)15.0Low
Sovereign credit risk (OECD country risk classification)Category 0 / 72.0Low
FATF listing (grey / black list status)Not listed0.0Low
Double-tax agreement with AustraliaIn force0.0Low
Business Environment
FDI regulatory restrictiveness (OECD FDIRRI)0.1154.6High
Logistics performance (World Bank LPI)4.12.9Low
Business readiness (World Bank B-READY pillar average)Insufficient data
Investment protection with Australia in force (BIT or FTA investment chapter)None in force100.0Very High
Security & Crime
Armed-conflict intensity (battle deaths per 100k, 5-yr)0.029.7Medium
Intentional homicide rate (per 100k)0.610.7Low
Organised crime pervasiveness (GI-TOC criminality score)4.735.7Medium
DFAT Smartraveller advisory levelLevel 1 — Exercise normal safety precautions10.0Low
Climate & Social Compliance
Physical climate vulnerability (ND-GAIN vulnerability)0.2962.4Low
Disaster risk (INFORM Risk Index)1.85.5Low
Modern-slavery prevalence (per 1,000)0.50.3Low
Modern-slavery vulnerability score13.611.6Low
Technology & Digital
E-government development (UN EGDI)0.913.2Low
Internet users (% of population)97.37.8Low
Cybercrime origination (World Cybercrime Index)0.630.0Medium
Secure internet servers (per million people)167357.64.0Low

Per-indicator ratings are quartile bands of the 0–100 risk score. The Australia column shows the same indicator’s raw value for the Australian baseline in this snapshot.

Cultural distance

GLOBE 2004 societal practices · rated on distance from Australia · not in the overall score

SwitzerlandAustraliaGLOBE practice score · scale 1–7
Power distanceLow
4.88
4.74
Uncertainty avoidanceVery High
5.18
4.39
Institutional collectivismLow
4.14
4.29
In-group collectivismLow
3.91
4.17
Humane orientationHigh
3.77
4.28
Performance orientationMedium
4.59
4.36
AssertivenessHigh
3.99
4.28
Gender egalitarianismMedium
3.19
3.40
Future orientationHigh
4.50
4.09

Context — not scored

Unemployment

4.9%

Displayed, never scored: ambiguous for an entrant and unreliable where informal employment dominates. (2025, ILO modelled)

Trade agreement

No Australian FTA in force

Market access is decision-relevant but a benefit, not a risk — kept out of the rating.

Regional advisories

No higher regional advisory levels

DFAT Smartraveller sub-national advice where it exceeds the overall level.

Compare with

A score means little on its own. These economies scored closest to Switzerland in this snapshot, which is the fastest way to see whether the rating is telling you something specific or something regional.

All 218 economies · How to read these ratings