Inflation calculator

Officially (Consumer Price Index CPI, FSO): 2021 to 2025 averaged around 1.4 % per year (0.6, 2.8, 2.1, 1.1 and 0.2 %), with 2022/2023 as the upward outlier. Over the long run (last 25 years), inflation averaged only about 0.6 % per year. That is why we offer three scenarios: pick the one that matches your horizon and situation.

Because the official CPI understates inflation as many households experience it, for three documented reasons. First: mandatory health insurance premiums are entirely missing from the CPI; the FSO deliberately tracks them in the separate premium index KVPI. Yet they rose 4.4 to 8.7 % per year from 2023 to 2026; with premiums taking 8 to 12 % of income (households below the median), that adds roughly 0.4 to 0.6 percentage points of inflation per year. Second: anyone moving pays market rent: asking rents rose about 12.5 % from 2022 to 2025, while the CPI rent index for existing leases rose only 8 to 9 %. Third: everyday goods like food and energy at times rose faster than the overall index, while cheaper electronics slightly pull it down. CPI (1.4 %) plus the premium effect makes roughly 2 % per year realistic for tenant households below the median. Even higher permanent rates like 2.5 to 3 % are not supported by Swiss data, though single years (2023) or special cases (moving into a new lease, no premium subsidies) can reach them. Sources: FSO (CPI, KVPI), FOPH (average premiums), Homegate rent index.

If the interest rate is below inflation, the real interest rate is negative: your balance stays flat or grows minimally while prices rise faster. Each year the same amount buys you a little less, without a single visible movement on the account. That is exactly why the loss feels like nothing, yet it is real.

Nominally yes: the amount does not fluctuate and is protected by deposit insurance up to CHF 100,000 per bank. In real terms no: purchasing power shrinks year after year by the gap between inflation and interest. There are two risks, price swings and purchasing power loss, and the account only protects you from the first.

Your emergency fund (3 to 6 months of expenses) belongs in the account despite inflation; its job is availability, not returns. Amounts beyond that can be invested broadly for the long term, for example with ETFs or a pillar 3a securities solution. Our compound interest calculator shows the flip side of this page. Not investment advice.