Apartment rents dropped slightly in August; Minister launches Swiss supercomputer; Switzerland’s population reaches 9 million

News For 24 September 2024

Last month, rental apartments became a bit cheaper, according to the Homegate Rental Index published Wednesday. New tenants paid an average of 0.6 percent less than in August than in July — the first time rents dropped since February 2023.

The decline was sharpest in Ticino, where apartment seekers had to pay an average of 1.7 percent less than in the previous month. But, rent prices also fell in Obwalden (-1.3%), as well as in Neuchâtel and Jura (both -1.2%).

However, this is likely to be only a temporary relief, Homegate noted.

At the same time, rents increased in Graubünden (+1.3 percent), Nidwalden (+0.9 percent), and Zug (+0.3 percent).

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Switzerland has a new supercomputer, which was inaugurated this week at the national high-performance computing center in Lugano, reported RTS. The computer, known as “Alps” is one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world. To perform the calculations that “Alps” manages in one day, would require a standard laptop 40,000 years.

The new supercomputer was developed to meet the computing requirements of science, and AI in particular. Weather, climate and medical models are some of the applications benefiting from supercomputer computing power.

Compared to its predecessor, the supercomputer “Piz Daint,” “Alps” is twenty times more powerful, with computing power of 0.27 exaFlops. In addition to being more powerful, Alps is significantly more efficient, consuming around 20% of the energy per Flop that its predecessor did.

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Data published this week by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) show that Switzerland’s population reached more than 9 million, at the end of June 2024.

The FSO has run a population census seven times since 1850, when the total number of permanent residents was 2.4 million. Between 2000 and 2024, the global population has risen 32% from 6.2 to 8.2 million, a rate faster than the population growth rate in Switzerland (+25%) over the same period.

However, compared to Europe, Switzerland’s population has grown remarkably rapidly. Between 2000 and 2024, the population of Europe grew 2% from 728 to 745 million. Even European nations with high population growth, like the UK (+17%) and Sweden (+19%), grew less than Switzerland (+25%).