Published on 22 October 2025

History of Social Security

In around 150 articles, an online publication provides insight into the history of the Swiss welfare state from various perspectives. The web publication on the history of social security was developed by the FSIO in 2013 to mark its 100th anniversary, in collaboration with several universities. A learning platform is also available to complement the publication.

Most industrialized countries promise their citizens a comprehensive offer of “social security”. Each state, however, has its own ideas of how to implement such a project. In Switzerland in particular, social security was only gradually able to assert itself as a positive concept among various sections of the population. In international comparison, Switzerland was often considered a “latecomer”. The extent of welfare state benefits was far behind that of other Western European nations. Only in the second half of the 20th century, the welfare state significantly expanded.

This platform is a co-production of the Universities of Basel and Zurich and the Haute école de travail social et de la santé Lausanne HETSL (HES-SO). It was commissioned by the Federal Social Insurance Office (FSIO) and is regularly revised and expanded.