Moving to Zurich

Today we look at moving to Zurich in Switzerland from Durban in South Africa. We highlight cost of living and other major differences likely to be experienced in our series of short blogs on moving between different international locations.
In Zurich people speak German, French, Italian, Romansch. In Durban people speak 11 official languages including English, Afrikaans, Sesotho, Setswana, Xhosa and Zulu.

Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. Durban is the third largest city in South Africa. Zurich is Switzerland's main commercial and cultural centre. Durban is famous as the busiest port in Africa. It is also a major centre of tourism due to the city's warm subtropical climate and beaches.

The overall cost of living rank in Zurich is 4 out of 300 global locations, which equates it with high cost of living locations.  An expatriate moving from Durban to Zurich will experience a change in cost of living of 71.4%.
In terms of the hardship people are likely to experience, assessed in global terms, Zurich is ranked as a minimal hardship location with a hardship index of 10% compared to Durban with a hardship index of 30% which is a high degree of hardship location.

Source: Cost of Living Zurich Switzerland as at July 2011.