UK has lowest quality of life in Europe

[tocqueville]

Source: ICM

A new report has revealed UK citizens have the lowest quality of life in the whole of Europe, due to long working hours, lower holiday entitlement, and high living costs – even though they enjoy the highest net household income, an average £35,730, which is more than £10,000 higher than the European average.

According to the uSwitch.com European Quality of Life survey, people in the UK have a lower life expectancy than those in France, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the Netherlands.

This could be attributed to the fact that the UK has the lowest spend on healthcare and education. In addition, UK citizens have to pay more than the European average for fuel, food, alcohol and cigarettes.

Ann Robinson, Director of Consumer Policy at uSwitch.com, said: “There is more to good living than money and this report shows why so many Brits are giving up on the UK and heading to France and Spain. We earn substantially more than our European neighbours, but this level of income is needed just to keep a roof over our heads, food on the table and our homes warm.”

Read more: http://news.icm.ac.uk/business/uk-has-lowest-quality-of-life-in-europe/4064/

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[marmar]

1. Too much Reagan-Thatcher Koolaid is bad for your health.

nt

[YOY]

2. No offense, dear Brits, but cry me a river.

We got well related problems of our own.

[Captain Hilts]

4. Our economy has more geographic and, therefore, economic diversity. nt

[LeftishBrit]

13. This is comparing Britain with other Europaean countries - not with the USA (nt)

[Captain Hilts]

3. The UK has also been strongly affected by the collapse of industry in the 1st world

Ask the authors of Brassed Off, The Full Monty, Swing Hammer Swing, or Susan Boyle about that.

[valerief]

5. If the US was included in that list, it'd be sunk far below in abyss. nt

[Vidar]

6. Unfortunately that's what they get for following the US down the shithole.

[NoPasaran]

7. I could have sworn Europe had more than ten countries

Metric systems?

Death panels?

:shrug:

[tocqueville]

8. Well that's Western Europe

all major countries are included. The ones that are really missing in that study are Norway, Finland and Portugal. Maybe Norway would be #1 (unless for the cost of life which is very high). Switzerland is a special case. Interesting that Poland is ranking so high. Luxemburg is a town. Belgium isn't in the ranking but I guess it would rank as the Netherlands.

I still think it's fair because the Eastern countries have started from scratch 20 years ago, and it takes time to catch up.

[madrchsod]

9. not included is the amount of spy cameras in the country

you can actually play an online game- http://interneteyes.co.uk/ -catch a crime in progress and win a prize..

[Overseas]

10. Look at all those holidays! Wow. //nt

[tocqueville]

11. survey here pdf

http://www.uswitch.com/press-room/Index.aspx?downloadfile=UK-ENJOYS-HIGHEST-NET-INCOME-IN-EUROPE,-BUT-QUALITY-OF-LIFE-IS-POOREST

[grantcart]

12. rubbish

so the country with the highest household incomeafter taxes and the fewest hours of work per week is ranked 10 out of 10 because the number of hours of sunshine.

btw this is not from ICM - The Intergovernmental Committee on Migration, but a group of "Business Managers".

[Nikki Stone1]

14. Let's try this one:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=389

Sometimes, it's all in how you couch your material. Americans are an egocentric lot.

[LeftishBrit]

15. Interesting, but hard to interpret...

all measures that lump lots of different indices together have their problems (ironically that's one of the problems with the UK; constant attempts to rank schools, hospitals and other organizations according to such hodgepodges of criteria).

For some people, hours of sunshine will be most important; for others education spending will be most important. For most, life expectancy will be important - but that's quantity of life rather than quality.

I would agree that the UK has somewhat lost its way since Thatcher got into power, and could be much better than it is. I do, however, think that we're still better off in most ways than e.g. Poland, and I am a little baffled as to how, even according to the criteria used, we came so much lower.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

22. Sweden is also lower than Poland (!)

It makes you wonder how the survey was weighted.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

16. It's not that bad really

In the UK most people used to work 9 til 5 with 1 hour for lunch. School is usually 9 til 3. Are they counting overtime? I don't think the quality of life is much different from the USA.

[JVS]

17. All this tells me is that Ireland and the UK lack sunshine.

[JVS]

18. Also, how did Poland rank so well?

[Anarcho-Socialist]

21. Low retirement age and large number of holidays it seems

[xxqqqzme]

19. I considered moving to Spain when

dimson stole '08. Appears it would have been a good move.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

20. "highest net household income" is not to our advantage either

The huge wealth disparity in Britain compared to the rest of Europe skewers this average. The household right in the middle (at 50% of population) would not be receiving £35k, probably much less.

[Art_from_Ark]

23. I am fascinated about purchasing power in other countries

For example, I have several hundred British pounds that I've accumulated over the years and I wonder what that would be able to buy in the UK. Or how much my thousand or so euros would buy in, say, Germany. I've heard horror stories from people who have been to Italy about paying 35 euros for a skimpy breakfast at a hotel or a couple of cups of coffee and a bottle of wine at an outdoor cafe.

[Anarcho-Socialist]

24. GDP per capita figures based on 'purchasing power parity' are usually helpful

Regarding those horror stories are that they do exist and their avoidance depends on eating and drinking where the (ordinary working class/middle class) locals do.

[Art_from_Ark]

25. Of course, those figures can only give a very general idea

I am interested in more detailed information, like, how much would a half pound of Caerphilly cheese cost in a British supermarket, or how much a basic rental/hire car would cost for 3 days, or how much a round trip train fare from London to Liverpool would cost.