New survey shows snooping habits of our nosey nation

The UK is a nation of nosey parkers with 40 per cent of people admitting to ever snooping on their neighbours, new research commissioned by Direct Blinds shows.

Direct Blinds sought to find out just how many Brits are guilty of snooping on their neighbours and what motivates them to peek through the curtains to see what is going on in the world around them.

The research was carried out by YouGov and surveyed more than 2,000 people across the UK. It found that 45 per cent of women admit to ever having snooped on their neighbours, compared to 34 per cent of men.

However, men would be more likely than women to confront a neighbour they believed was snooping on them (46 per cent vs 32 per cent), which is perhaps due to the fact that fewer men than women surveyed believe that snooping on neighbours is natural human behaviour (36 per cent of men vs 41 per cent of women).

Direct Blinds also found the nation has a number of techniques up their sleeve for when they are snooping on their neighbours. Over two-thirds of respondents who have ever done this (67 per cent) admitted to peering through their curtains and/or blinds to snoop on their neighbours and more than one-third (37 per cent) even admitted to turning off the lights in their room.

The most common reason respondents named for why they would snoop on their neighbours was hearing a loud and/or unusual noise (59 per cent).

Interestingly, many respondents said that having an unruly neighbour move in nearby would not make them more likely to snoop on them; nearly half (47 per cent) claimed it would make no difference to their habits.

Regions where people are most likely to snoop on their neighbours (based on percentage of respondents who admitted to having ever snooped on their neighbours)

1. South-West (47%)
2. North-West (44%)
3=. South East (43%)
3=. West Midlands (43%)
5. East of England (42%)

Regions where people would be most likely to confront neighbours for snooping (based on percentage of respondents who said they would be fairly or very likely to confront a neighbour for snooping)

1. North-East 51%
2=. Scotland 48%
2=. Northern Ireland 48%
4. East of England 41%
5. North West 40%

DirectBlinds.co.uk is an online only brand, supplying quality made to measure window blinds direct on the internet to consumers nationwide. Established in 1969, we are still family owned and family run.