Brookfield Global Relocation Services – global relocation trends – 2010 survey report:

• International experience is the best prerequisite to minimize expatriate turnover.
• China, India and the United States were cited as the locations with the highest rate of assignment failure.

Brookfield Global Relocation Services – global relocation trends – 2010 survey report: - expatriate attrition. The average annual turnover is 13%

• 17% leave during the assignment
• 38% leave within one year of returning from an assignment
• 23% leave between the first and the second year
• 22% leave after two years

The University of Basel is by far the oldest University in Switzerland (1460).

One quarter of all relocations are unsuccessful (Global Relocation Survey, Atlas 2009). The number one reason (65%) is “unhappy spouse”.

The Swiss are harder to get in contact with in comparison to citizens in other countries (HSBC – Expat Explorer Survey 2009, Switzerland ranked 24 out of 26 in “making local friends”).

Switzerland ranks as number 1 for family life and 25 for social life (HSBC – Expat Explorer Survey 2009).

Within the catchment area of the three country corner (Elsass, South Germany, Basel and Region of Basel) there are around 800’000 inhabitants.

The life science cluster Pharma and Biotech but also other innovative industries such as nanotechnology offer a number of attractive jobs and represent a very promising future in this region (8 % growth rate and predicted for the next 10 years).

The recently released study “potentials and challenges of expatriates in the region of Basel” (by Ecos) talks about 36’000 citizens in Basel and Baselland which means that every 12th citizen is an expatriate.

The Swiss statistical federal office estimates that the number of expatriates in Basel will have the highest increase over the next 10 years – surpassing even Geneva.

The recently released study “potentials and challenges of expatriates in the region of Basel” identified a number of actions to facilitate social and cultural on-boarding and integration to this region – Mytown4you is designed to exactly breach these gaps.

60% of the current population of expatriates in Basel and Baselland (approximately 20’000) have lived here for more than 4 years.

In Switzerland about 275’000 jobs were created by immigrated expatriates.
Since 2001 around 60’000 expatriates have moved to Switzerland to fill gaps in qualified manpower / jobs.

Romans settled in Basel 40 BC

Basel is a paradise for people who are attracted by museums – it is the city with the highest density of museums within the country (40 museums).

Basel is the smallest canton in Switzerland (22,75 km2).

There is a high likelihood that every tenth franc of paid taxes comes from an expat household.

A study by Brookfield Global Relocation Services (2010) – Financial Times, October 7, 2010: stated that 6% of all international assignments fail (2009 – 4%); and cited the same reason as the Global Relocation Survey, Atlas 2009  quoted in no.1, i.e. ‘unhappy spouse’. The same study also stated that 65% of failed assignments are due to partner dissatisfaction with the new location.