Hot, not so hot 30° The so-called Ice Saints refer to five days in May which, according to popular belief, are more likely to have night frosts. “Cold Sophie” on 15 May is the best-known Ice Saint – and the reason why many of us wait until after mid-May before planting garden seedlings. Nevertheless, Cold Sophie forgot Switzerland this year: the mercury hit 30 °C on 15 May, the first properly hot day in 2022. 7,800,000,000 The total volume of paid work performed in Switzerland last year amounted to 7.8 billion hours – up 2.5 per cent on 2020. Have we suddenly become workaholics? No. The simple reason for the increase is that Covid restrictions were lifted. 22.5% Over a fifth, or 22.5 per cent, of Swiss teenagers smoke. And two thirds of adults who smoke started to do so when they were in their teens. The Tobacco Control Fund (TCF) is now investing 5.5 billion Swiss francs in anti-smoking campaign aimed at young people. Funding of the TCF relies on a levy charged on every packet of cigarettes sold in Switzerland. Yes, you read that correctly. 16 Isn’t it wonderful that roughly half of Swiss mayors are men and half are women? A shining example of gender equality! Sorry, we’re joking. Only 16 per cent of Switzerland’s 2,000 and more municipalities have a female mayor. The SP has the biggest contingent of female mayors among the political parties, while the SVP has the smallest. 37 Perhaps you are less likely to dream of 12-cylinder engines during your mid-life crisis if petrol was never your thing in the first place. The smoking analogy in reverse! We compared May 2022 with May 2021 and, lo and behold, new registrations of electric cars increased by 37 per cent while those of fuel-driven cars fell by 25 per cent year-on-year. FIGURES COMPILED BY MARC LETTAU “Swiss Review”, the magazine for the Swiss Abroad, is in its 48th year of publication and is published six times a year in German, French, English and Spanish in 13 regional editions. It has a total circulation of 431,000, including 253,000 electronic copies. “Swiss Review”’s regional news appears four times a year. The ordering parties are fully responsible for the content of advertisements and promotional inserts. This content does not necessarily represent the opinion of either the editorial office or the publisher. All Swiss Abroad who are registered with a Swiss representation receive the magazine free of charge. Anyone else can subscribe for an annual fee (Switzerland: CHF 30 / abroad: CHF 50). ONLINE EDITION www.revue.ch EDITORS Marc Lettau, Editor-in-Chief (MUL) Stéphane Herzog (SH) Theodora Peter (TP) Susanne Wenger (SWE) Paolo Bezzola (PB, FDFA representative) FDFA OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS The editorial responsibility for the “Notes from the Federal Palace” section is assumed by the Consular Directorate, Innovation and Partnerships, Effinger- strasse 27, 3003 Berne, Switzerland. kdip@eda.admin.ch | www.fdfa.admin.ch EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Sandra Krebs (KS) TRANSLATION SwissGlobal Language Services AG, Baden LAYOUT Joseph Haas, Zürich PRINT Vogt-Schild Druck AG, Derendingen PUBLISHER The “Swiss Review” is published by the Organisation of the Swiss Abroad (OSA). The postal address of the publisher, the editorial office and advertising department is: Organisation of the Swiss Abroad, Alpenstrasse 26, 3006 Berne. revue@swisscommunity.org Phone: +41 31 356 61 10 Bank details: CH97 0079 0016 1294 4609 8 / KBBECH22 COPY DEADLINE FOR THIS EDITION 8 June 2022 CHANGES TO DELIVERY Please advise your local embassy or consulate. The editorial team cannot access your address and administrative data. Thank you. Swiss Review / August 2022 / No.4 18 Switzerland in figures Imprint
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