If you believe that “perception is everything”, then this new study, which examined how people from various Swiss regions rate residents of other cantons based on their niceness and friendliness, is right up your alley.
The scores in this survey, carried out by Switzerland's Moneyland.ch online comparison service, were attributed on a scale of 1 to 10 — the higher the score, the more likeable the residents are judged to be.
Not surprisingly, “most people polled consider the residents of their own canton to be the nicest”, said Moneyland.ch director Benjamin Manz.
Here are the main results of the survey.
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The nicest cantons
Ticino is by far the friendliest canton, having received 7.4 points out of 10 from respondents in both German and French-speaking parts of the country.
This score is higher than the Swiss average of 6.5 points.
With 7.3 points, Graubünden is in the second place, followed by Lucerne and Valais, both with 7 points.
What about the cantons deemed by others to be least friendly?
That unenviable assessment was given to Geneva, which received 5.8 points — the only canton to obtain a score below 6.
In fact, even Genevans gave themselves a thumbs-down, preferring Neuchâtel, Ticino and Valais over their own canton.
Cantons of Zurich, Vaud and the two Basels all fall slightly below the national average, between 6.3 and 6.4 points.
Here are some other interesting findings
The residents of Zug were found to be most generous, attributing on average about 7.5 points to the other cantons. On the other hand, people in Neuchâtel and Jura were the stingiest in their assessments, awarding only 6 points per canton on average.
Affinities — or lack thereof — are also based on linguistic and cultural divides — the famous Röstigraben.
People who live in the German-speaking cantons consistently rated their French-speaking compatriots unfavourably – and vice-versa.
However, both linguistic regions were generous toward the Italian-language Ticino, though the German speakers rated the (German-speaking) Graubünden slightly higher.
You can see the complete survey results here.
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