Interesting Facts

According to figures released by the Office for National Statistics, house prices in the UK have risen 47 thousand percent since the Queen was born. (The average house price has risen from just over £600 when she was born in 1926 to £291,000 today. To put that into perspective,  a pint of milk cost the equivalent of 1.3p in 1926 and is only 42p today, a rise of 3,131%. However, if the price of milk had risen in line with property prices it would cost £612.57 a pint. 47,000% ! If only my income had increased that much.)

According to a study compiled for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, couples with two children  now need just under £40,600 between them to afford a decent lifestyle. (The biggest problem is, the actual cost of living in the UK has risen five times as much as earnings since before the recession. So, £40,600 is enough to provide ordinary food, clothes, and leisure activities, for a small family, as well as items judged necessary to survive in modern Britain, without extravagance.)

According to the ONS, the average monthly rent in the UK, for private accommodation, was £854 per month. (In Germany it's about €730. How much is it where you live?)

According to the 2012 league table of food and drink costs, Britain pays more for food and alcohol than most of Europe. ( The staples, milk, cheese and eggs are 7% more expensive and across all food and non-alcoholic drinks, the UK pays 4% above the EU27. In the same study, Norway came out as the most expensive for food and drink and Macedonia the cheapest. All this came as no surprise to me; doing a food shop in the UK is always more expensive than Germany, but the biggest surprise is alcohol in the UK is around 43% above the European Union average, in France alcohol costs are 12% below the average and Germany 18%  lower. However, this is not why I moved to Germany.)

According to research by online bank First Direct, the cost of living i n the UK   has gone up by 163% in 20 years. (The problem is average salaries have not kept pace, increasing by just 100%.  I knew I felt poorer!)