Where Switzerland's global brands are based

Basel-Stadt has 2.2% of Switzerland's population and 21.4% of the revenue of its leading global brands

80%

of combined revenue is earned by brands based in Zurich, Basel-Stadt, Vaud and Geneva, home to 35% of the population

9.6×

Basel-Stadt's share of revenue relative to its share of the population, the highest of any canton

6

cantons have no brand in the 100: Uri, Obwalden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Graubünden, Ticino and Valais

The 100 brands in the 2026 edition earn CHF 831.9bn a year between them. 57 of them are based in Zurich, Basel-Stadt, Vaud and Geneva, and these four cantons account for 80% of that revenue, although they are home to 35% of the people who live in Switzerland. Zurich leads on both counts, with 23 brands and 32.0% of revenue.

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Share of revenue and share of population, by canton. Red: share of the combined revenue of the Swiss Lions 100. Circle: share of the Swiss population. Source: Swiss Lions 100, 2026 edition.

Canton	Brands in the 100	Combined revenue (CHF m)	Share of revenue (%)	Population	Share of population (%)	Revenue share / population share
Zurich	23	265,993	32.0	1,632,918	17.9	1.8
Basel-Stadt	12	177,801	21.4	204,157	2.2	9.6
Vaud	10	112,347	13.5	863,650	9.5	1.4
Geneva	12	109,772	13.2	537,084	5.9	2.2
Zug	6	49,153	5.9	135,018	1.5	4.0
Schwyz	2	24,637	3.0	170,072	1.9	1.6
Fribourg	2	21,173	2.6	350,918	3.8	0.7
Nidwalden	3	13,860	1.7	45,664	0.5	3.3
Aargau	4	12,700	1.5	743,768	8.2	0.2
Basel-Landschaft	3	7,950	1.0	303,872	3.3	0.3
Lucerne	3	7,692	0.9	441,500	4.8	0.2
St. Gallen	3	7,040	0.9	544,040	6.0	0.1
Schaffhausen	3	6,543	0.8	90,087	1.0	0.8
Bern	5	4,802	0.6	1,076,127	11.8	0.1
Thurgau	1	4,240	0.5	302,806	3.3	0.2
Neuchâtel	3	1,844	0.2	180,365	2.0	0.1
Jura	1	1,750	0.2	75,178	0.8	0.3
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	2	1,482	0.2	57,221	0.6	0.3
Solothurn	1	820.0	0.1	291,583	3.2	0.0
Glarus	1	310.0	0.0	42,451	0.5	0.1
Uri	0	0.0	0.0	38,581	0.4	0.0
Obwalden	0	0.0	0.0	39,879	0.4	0.0
Appenzell Innerrhoden	0	0.0	0.0	16,890	0.2	0.0
Graubünden	0	0.0	0.0	207,400	2.3	0.0
Ticino	0	0.0	0.0	359,783	3.9	0.0
Valais	0	0.0	0.0	376,113	4.1	0.0

Basel-Stadt and Zug punch far above their weight

Basel-Stadt is home to 2.2% of the population but 21.4% of revenue, 9.6 times its population share. Most of that comes from Roche and Novartis. Zug, with 1.5% of the population, is home to six brands in the 100 and 5.9% of revenue.

Counted by brands rather than revenue, the most concentrated cantons are Nidwalden, Basel-Stadt and Zug, with 6.6, 5.9 and 4.4 brands in the 100 for every 100,000 residents. Across Switzerland the figure is 1.1.

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Global brands per 100,000 residents, by canton. Brands in the Swiss Lions 100, 2026. Source: Swiss Lions 100, 2026 edition.

Canton	Brands in the 100	Population	Brands per 100,000 residents
Nidwalden	3	45,664	6.6
Basel-Stadt	12	204,157	5.9
Zug	6	135,018	4.4
Appenzell Ausserrhoden	2	57,221	3.5
Schaffhausen	3	90,087	3.3
Glarus	1	42,451	2.4
Geneva	12	537,084	2.2
Neuchâtel	3	180,365	1.7
Zurich	23	1,632,918	1.4
Jura	1	75,178	1.3
Schwyz	2	170,072	1.2
Vaud	10	863,650	1.2
Basel-Landschaft	3	303,872	1.0
Lucerne	3	441,500	0.7
Fribourg	2	350,918	0.6
St. Gallen	3	544,040	0.6
Aargau	4	743,768	0.5
Bern	5	1,076,127	0.5
Solothurn	1	291,583	0.3
Thurgau	1	302,806	0.3

Bern, Ticino and Valais are underrepresented

Bern is the second most populous canton, with 11.8% of residents, but its five brands in the 100 (Omega, Longines, Swatch, Ypsomed and Kambly) earn 0.6% of revenue. Uri, Obwalden, Appenzell Innerrhoden, Graubünden, Ticino and Valais have no brand in the 100. Ticino's highest-ranked brand, Medacta, is outside the 100.

Switzerland's global brands are concentrated in a few places. Life sciences cluster in Basel, and finance, insurance and services in Zurich. Zug is home to commodity, holding and consumer companies, and the Lake Geneva region to watchmakers, food companies and private banks. The pattern reflects where companies keep their registered office, which depends on tax, history and the home of a founding family as much as on where people work.