British young people, particularly affected financially by the pandemic, are now facing a "
cost of living crisis
" and nearly half are now over-indebted or would not resist a financial shock, according to a study.
Thus, 47% of Britons aged 18 to 30 "
today have low financial resilience, that is to say they are over-indebted or have little capacity to withstand financial shocks
" , according to a study by think tank Demos released Wednesday.
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The poorest Britons are also facing a recent reduction in social minimums, which was added in early October to the end of a government short-time working program and rising energy costs, in the wake of record gas prices in Europe.
"
It is essential that politicians become aware of what appears to be a crisis in the cost of living for young people,
" said think tank Demos in its study, which notes in comparison that only 38% of 31-50 year-olds and 17% of those over 50 are affected by poor financial strength.
Over-indebtedness
The main problem of young people is over-indebtedness: they are "
significantly
" more numerous (31%) "
to have been late on the payment of domestic bills and outstanding credit cards over the last six months
", against 3% for the over 50s.
18-30 year-olds save more often than other age groups, however, and 72% of them “
see the benefit of saving for the future, so that they don't have to save more later.
".
And young people are also more likely to have someone to turn to, especially friends, if they have a hard time: 63% compared to 56% for the national average.
But they have to shell out more for their essential expenses "
in particular rent or mortgage repayments and bills
" on which young people living in the UK spend more than double (almost £ 1,300 per month) than their most common people. aged.
The government should "
make the fight against the crisis in the cost of living among young people (...) a priority
", according to Demos, which proposes "
a commission to understand why these costs hit young people so hard and to determine what can be done to ensure the financial well-being of future generations
”.
The study is based on two surveys carried out in June 2021, one among 1,000 young people between the ages of 18 and 30 and another involving 1,000 adults representative of the British population.