Personal debt in UK worst in Europe
That Britain is slipping into a personal debt crisis has been well documented for a number of years now.
The UK’s burgeoning levels of personal debt have, for a long time, far outweighed that of our European neighbours. Indeed, figures released last year revealed that the average consumer in this county is £3,008 in debt compared to an average figure of £1,558 across the rest of Western Europe.
Alarmingly the UK is now responsible for a third of all unsecured debt in Western Europe.
It’s a precarious state of affairs borne out by the current figures for personal debt in the UK: The total figure for personal debt in Britain in June 2007 was £1,355bn with the growth rate increasing to 10.1% for the previous 12 months; it would appear that this is not an issue that shows any sign of slowing down.
Including mortgages the average household debt for the UK is £56,000, excluding mortgages the figure is £8,856 and if based on households with some form of unsecured loan the average figure is £20,600.
Every four minutes this country’s personal debt is rising by a million pounds.