Accommodation is the biggest concern for expats in Geneva

Geneva

According to a new survey expatriates in Geneva cite the search for accommodation as their biggest concern, with local crime and transport the next in line.

Crime is a big issue at the moment as small incidents have been on the rise, and the expat concern is something that that the Geneva police agree with. The survey was carried out by canton Geneva and the Geneva police.

To complete the survey 1,082 expats were interviewed from multinationals companies, international organisations and diplomatic missions. 52 percent of the respondents claimed that their biggest worry was housing, and 17 percent cited crime.

33 percent of the respondents also said that they felt there had been a “substantial deterioration” in the crime levels in recent years, 45 percent said it had “worsened slightly”.

Despite these statistics the majority of the quizzed were undeterred from enjoying their lives with 92 percent of the expats saying they would happily recommend Geneva to their friends and family.

Jovana Carapic, a Canadian research assistant at the Geneva-based Graduate Institute, said: “I’ve lived here for two years and never had a single problem. As a young woman I don’t feel unsafe anywhere. I’ve walked in the city in the middle of the night and the day and I felt the same.”

However Victor, an American who has worked in Geneva for the past six years after stints in New York, Tokyo, London and Nairobi said: “There are notorious spots like the Paquis district and the Cornavin train station.”