Quality of life in the UK now worst in Europe
The UK now has the lowest quality of life in Europe, according to the latest uSwitch.com Quality of Life Index. High living costs, less holidays and later retirement have contributed to the UK slipping to the very bottom of the list. And its decline hasn't gone unnoticed - one in ten people in the UK (12%) are seriously considering emigrating.
The uSwitch.com study examined 16 factors including net income, VAT and the cost of essential goods, such as fuel, food and energy bills, as well as lifestyle factors such as hours of sunshine, holiday entitlement, working hours and life expectancy, to provide a complete picture of the quality of life experienced in each country.
The findings show that people in the UK have the poorest quality of life, while the French and Spanish enjoy the highest. In fact France has topped the index for the third year in a row, despite the average household annual net income being just £31,767 - nearly £7,000 below that of the UK. The UK only lags behind the Netherlands, Ireland and Denmark when it comes to net household income, but long working hours, the lowest number of days holiday a year and a high retirement age paint a bleak picture for those in the UK. We also suffer the most expensive food and diesel prices, along with higher than average petrol costs, while enjoying almost the lowest amount of sunshine.
But the gloomy weather is not the only thing making life in the UK miserable. Those living here have a number of serious concerns some of which were highlighted by the recent riots. In fact, the "broken society" was cited as the worst thing about living in the UK at the moment. When asked for the top five worst things about living in the UK, 59% said "broken society", 49% said the cost of living and 47% said crime and violence. Just 5% said they were happy in the UK.
As a result, one in ten people in the UK (12%) are seriously considering emigrating. And even those who are staying put are not necessarily doing so because they wish to - a quarter (24%) say that although they may not be happy in the UK, they couldn't leave their friends and family.
As well as topping the Quality of Life league, France and Spain are also where people in the UK would most like to live. 13% of people said that if they could live in any European country they would prefer to siesta in Spain, while 7% chose France. The Spanish can expect to live a year longer than people in the UK and enjoy the highest number of days holiday in Europe - an impressive 39 days, while a drink on your day off would be cheap too - the Spanish get to enjoy the lowest prices for alcohol. And to top it all off, the country enjoys the most sunshine.
Ann Robinson, Director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch.com, says: "Last year at least our neighbours in Ireland were worse off, now we can't even console ourselves with that. We are now officially at the bottom of the pile. We may still be enjoying the fourth highest household income in Europe, but the high cost of living means that we're living to work. When coupled with many of the issues facing households in the UK today it's not surprising that one in ten of us (12%) have contemplated starting a new life abroad.
"But for those of us who decide to stick it out and ride the storm, there will be no choice but to batten down the hatches. Cutting back where possible to help combat our high living costs will go some way to improving our quality of life. This may be the only way to steer through these turbulent times until we reach a point where we can start to see our quality of life improve."