Fresh Perspectives on Wealth, Savings and Health Inequalities

There has been a raft of newly-published data in the scale of inequality in the UK including a glaring divide in health outcomes between North and South.

Regional health inequalities

People in the North are 20% more likely to die under the age of 75 according to a new report from the University of Manchester. More detailed comment is available in this blog post.

UK wealth tops ten trillion pounds

According to Lloyds Bank, total household wealth in the UK has grown by £3.9 trillion since 2006 - the equivalent of £143,000 per household.

Millions of households in the UK cannot afford to save

A new report from the Social Market Foundation finds that over 14 million working people in Britain are not saving at all, and over 26 million do not hold adequate savings.

Real interest rates have been negative for those people with the majority of their savings in highly liquid savings accounts. Money left in instant access cash savings accounts over the last five years would have fallen in value by over 4% in real terms due to inflation. By way of contrast, money invested in the FTSE 100 would have increased in value by 47% in real terms.

The SNF finds that 16 million people in the UK have less than £100 in total savings and one in six people say that they would not be able to last any time at all if they lost their main source of income. Two thirds of people say that they are not putting enough aside for retirement.