A banking decision from 15 years ago has fatal consequences for hospitals in a European country
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A study by two leading economic research institutes shows how a Swiss National Bank measure in 2011 triggered the migration of medical staff from Germany, a phenomenon that led to a 4.4% increase in mortality in border hospitals, according to Swiss media.
In 2011, the Swiss National Bank set a minimum exchange rate of 1.20 francs to the euro, reinforcing the wide wage gap between Switzerland and Germany. A study by the Center for European Economic Research (ZEW) in Mannheim and the Ifo Institute in Munich, published in January 2026, analyzes the consequences of this phenomenon in the period 2006-2017.
The decision 15 years ago caused the irreversible loss of 12% of qualified medical staff in German border hospitals, leading to a 10% increase in the number of patients per nurse and a 12% decrease in the likelihood of necessary surgery. As a result, mortality increased by an average of 4.4%, according to the study, cited by swissinfo.ch.
The health impact was disproportionately felt by elderly patients and those with acute conditions, with mortality increasing dramatically in emergency cases: +11.6% for heart attack and +17.7% for sepsis. This staffing crisis led to a 0.28-year drop in life expectancy in the border regions, a development contrary to the rest of Germany, where longevity continued to rise.
The study also showed that although Switzerland's border regions received this influx of medical personnel, the life expectancy of the local population did not increase at all. Basically, the migration of doctors has not brought any visible benefits to the health of the Swiss.
A similar situation was documented on the Swedish-Norwegian border from 2000–2015, when the oil price boom created a wage gap that doubled the number of Swedish doctors commuting across the border, leaving behind a weakened medical system and a rising death rate. The impact of this phenomenon was confirmed by recent economic analyses, published in 2024.
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