YouTube and TikTok are the most popular social networks among Generation X for finding helpful content on the cost of living crisis in the United States in 2023. While 56 percent of YouTube users state they find helpful content there, it's 47 percent among TikTok users respectively.

The cost of living is spiraling. Prices are going up, household expenses are rising, and the U.S. inflation rate reached a 40-year record high in 2023. Many consumers are looking for new ways to deal with this situation and refer to social media for support. So, which social media platforms have the most helpful content to deal with the current cost of living crisis in the U.S.? According to an exclusive survey by We Are Social and Statista Q, around 61 percent of TikTok users in the United States find helpful content there. Coming on number second is YouTube, as 56 percent of YouTube users find life hacks, tricks, money saving tips and other suitable advice to deal with inflation in 2023.

Around 64 percent of U.S. consumers spend less on non-essentials amidst the ongoing cost of living crisis in 2023. This is according to a survey conducted by We are Social and Statista Q, which shows that rising inflation rates have caused around a similar percentage of customers to pay more attention to bargains, good deals, or offers (when going shopping). Furthermore, around 39 percent of U.S. consumers do not go out for dinner/lunch anymore to deal with the situation.

According to an April 2023 survey by We Are Social and Statista Q, 40 percent of U.S. consumers feel highly affected by the ongoing cost of living crisis, whereas only 6 percent don't feel affected at all.

This statistic illustrates the most popular social networks among Millennials for finding the most relevant content on the cost of living crisis in the United States in 2023. According to a survey by We Are Social and Statista Q, 61 percent of Millennials who use TikTok find the most relevant content over there, followed by another 59 percent of the consumers who use YouTube.

This statistic illustrates the most popular social networks among Gen Z for finding helpful content on the cost of living crisis in the United States in 2023. According to our survey, 75 percent of the Gen Z consumers who use TikTok find helpful content there.

Around 41 percent of U.S. Baby Boomers who use YouTube find helpful content on the cost of living crisis there. Facebook (35 %) claims the second spot on this list, followed by Foursquare and Tumblr.

According to a survey conducted in the United States in August and September 2022, nearly eight out of 10 consumers believed that marketing campaigns should be adapted to reflect the impacts of a cost of living crisis. For 11 percent of respondents, marketing communications over the six months before the survey were less sensitive and appropriate to consumers' financial situation.

The average price per square foot of floor space in new single-family housing in the United States decreased after the great financial crisis, followed by several years of stagnation. Since 2012, the price has continuously risen, hitting 168 U.S. dollars per square foot in 2022. In 2024, the average sales price of a new home exceeded 500,000 U.S. dollars. Development of house sales in the U.S. One of the reasons for rising property prices is the gradual growth of house sales between 2011 and 2020. This period was marked by the gradual recovery following the subprime mortgage crisis and a growing housing sentiment. Another significant factor for the housing demand was the growing number of new household formations each year. Despite this trend, housing transactions plummeted in 2021, amid soaring prices and borrowing costs. In 2021, the average construction cost for single-family housing rose by nearly 12 percent year-on-year, and in 2022, the increase was even higher, at close to 17 percent. Financing a house purchase Mortgage interest rates in the U.S. rose dramatically in 2022 and remained elevated until 2024. In 2020, a homebuyer could lock in a 30-year fixed interest rate of under three percent, whereas in 2024, the average rate for the same mortgage type was more than twice higher. That has led to a decline in homebuyer sentiment, and an increasing share of the population pessimistic about buying a home in the current market.

According to a survey conducted in 2022, 28 percent of adults said that vocational training or other professional certification programs were definitely worth the price, more than other higher education institutions. Undergraduate education at private universities, for-profit, was perceived by adults as the least likely to be worth the price out of the other types. The student debt crisis In the United States, the amount of outstanding student loan debt has skyrocketed in the last few years, ultimately outpacing all other forms of household debt. As of the first quarter of 2024, Americans owed over 1.75 trillion U.S. dollars in student loans, likely influenced by increasing college tuition prices at a time of rising living costs and little wage growth. By the 2020/21 academic year, the average cost of attending a four-year postsecondary institution in the U.S. reached over 31,000 U.S. dollars, a price which may triple for Americans attending private and non-profit schools. In that same year, the average student debt for a bachelor's degree in totaled almost 35,000 U.S. dollars, depicting an increase in the amount of Americans taking on larger debts to attend higher education - an agreement which ultimately leads to an even greater outstanding balance from accrued interest. Despite a three-and-a-half-year pause on monthly student loan payments during the COVID-19 pandemic which aimed to alleviate the economic burden faced by over 45 million borrowers, most Americans still struggle to afford these payments. Cutting out college costs As the cost of college - and the resulting student debt - remains on the rise in the U.S., more and more university graduates have been found to be struggling financially, often having difficulty affording bills and other living expenses. Such financial hardships have also caused significant disruption to the lives of younger Americans, with a 2022 survey showing that around a quarter of Gen Z were unable to save for retirement or emergencies and had to delay homeownership and having children due to their student debt. Consequently, debates have arisen over whether the benefits of higher education still exceed the costs in the U.S., with many beginning to doubt that getting a college degree is worth the financial risk. While tuition costs remain at an all-time high, it is probable that financing a college degree may be detrimental for those Americans who have fewer resources and are unable to fund higher education without going into a significant amount of debt.

Damascus in Syria was ranked as the least expensive city worldwide in 2023, with an index score of 13 out of 100. The country has been marred by civil war over the last decade, hitting the country's economy hard. Other cities in the Middle East and North Africa such as Tehran, Tripoli, and Tunis are also present on the list. Buenos Aires is the Latin American city with the highest costs of living, as Argentina has recently faced an economic crisis and rapidly rising inflation. On the other hand, Singapore and Zurich were ranked the most expensive cities in the world.

Natural gas costs for U.S. households are expected to see a 21 percent year-on-year increase in the winter of 2022/23. This would make natural gas the fuel most affected by the 2022 energy and cost of living crisis. Supply issues arising from the Russia-Ukraine war have seen global energy prices grow significantly throughout the year. Although the U.S. is the world's largest producer of natural gas, sanctions on Russian imports have nevertheless impacted prices at home. The inherent price volatility of natural gas and other fossil fuels is among the chief reasons for a worsening inflation, which has led to a cost of living crisis and concerns over rising energy poverty and insecurity.

Portugal, Canada, and the United States were the countries with the highest house price to income ratio in 2023. In all three countries, the index exceeded 130 index points, while the average for all OECD countries stood at 117.5 index points. The index measures the development of housing affordability and is calculated by dividing nominal house price by nominal disposable income per head, with 2015 set as a base year when the index amounted to 100. An index value of 120, for example, would mean that house price growth has outpaced income growth by 20 percent since 2015. How have house prices worldwide changed since the COVID-19 pandemic? House prices started to rise gradually after the global financial crisis (2007–2008), but this trend accelerated with the pandemic. The countries with advanced economies, which usually have mature housing markets, experienced stronger growth than countries with emerging economies. Real house price growth (accounting for inflation) peaked in 2022 and has since lost some of the gain. Although, many countries experienced a decline in house prices, the global house price index shows that property prices in 2023 were still substantially higher than before COVID-19. Renting vs. buying In the past, house prices have grown faster than rents. However, the home affordability has been declining notably, with a direct impact on rental prices. As people struggle to buy a property of their own, they often turn to rental accommodation. This has resulted in a growing demand for rental apartments and soaring rental prices.

Inflation is generally defined as the continued increase in the average prices of goods and services in a given region. Following the extremely high global inflation experienced in the 1980s and 1990s, global inflation has been relatively stable since the turn of the millennium, usually hovering between three and five percent per year. There was a sharp increase in 2008 due to the global financial crisis now known as the Great Recession, but inflation was fairly stable throughout the 2010s, before the current inflation crisis began in 2021. Recent years Despite the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, the global inflation rate fell to 3.26 percent in the pandemic's first year, before rising to 4.66 percent in 2021. This increase came as the impact of supply chain delays began to take more of an effect on consumer prices, before the Russia-Ukraine war exacerbated this further. A series of compounding issues such as rising energy and food prices, fiscal instability in the wake of the pandemic, and consumer insecurity have created a new global recession, and global inflation in 2024 is estimated to have reached 5.76 percent. This is the highest annual increase in inflation since 1996. Venezuela Venezuela is the country with the highest individual inflation rate in the world, forecast at around 200 percent in 2022. While this is figure is over 100 times larger than the global average in most years, it actually marks a decrease in Venezuela's inflation rate, which had peaked at over 65,000 percent in 2018. Between 2016 and 2021, Venezuela experienced hyperinflation due to the government's excessive spending and printing of money in an attempt to curve its already-high inflation rate, and the wave of migrants that left the country resulted in one of the largest refugee crises in recent years. In addition to its economic problems, political instability and foreign sanctions pose further long-term problems for Venezuela. While hyperinflation may be coming to an end, it remains to be seen how much of an impact this will have on the economy, how living standards will change, and how many refugees may return in the coming years.

In December 2024, 11 percent of survey respondents said that the most important problem facing the United States was the high cost of living and inflation. Another 20percent said that the government and poor leadership was the most serious concern for the nation.

In case prices for goods and services go up significantly in 2023, over 20 percent of consumers around the world said they would shop less in general and cut down on spending as a response. A fifth of survey respondents said they would look for and purchase cheaper and better value products. Less than five percent of those surveyed worldwide believed inflation would be unlikely to impact their habits. What does inflation look like? The world entered a new inflation crisis in 2021, driven by a confluence of factors including the COVID-19 pandemic which restricted global supply chains, and the Russian-Ukraine war which exacerbated food and energy shortages. In 2022, global inflation hit 8.71 percent, the highest annual increase in decades. The rate of inflation is estimated to remain high in the near future, at around 6.9 percent in 2023 and 5.8 percent in 2024. Inflation dominated the list of most important problems facing the world according to a survey conducted in October 2023 – leading ahead of poverty and social inequality, crime and violence, and unemployment. In a global consumer trends survey, the majority of respondents said that inflation impacted them completely or a lot – for instance, seven in 10 respondents in the United States admitted they had been seriously impacted. Inflation’s impact on the holidays The end-of-year holiday season is typically regarded as a period of increased retail spending, driven by a series of major shopping events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, as well as the public holidays Thanksgiving and Christmas. However, inflation has put a damper on the holiday cheer, with consumers expressing their intentions to cut back spending amid the cost-of-living crisis. In 2022, a significant share of consumers in Europe said they planned to cut at least some related expenses. In fact, 40 percent of respondents in the United Kingdom planned to cut all expenses related to Black Friday and Christmas.

The statistic shows the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States from 1987 to 2023, with projections up until 2029. The gross domestic product of the United States in 2023 amounted to around 27.72 trillion U.S. dollars. The United States and the economy The United States’ economy is by far the largest in the world; a status which can be determined by several key factors, one being gross domestic product: A look at the GDP of the main industrialized and emerging countries shows a significant difference between US GDP and the GDP of China, the runner-up in the ranking, as well as the followers Japan, Germany and France. Interestingly, it is assumed that China will have surpassed the States in terms of GDP by 2030, but for now, the United States is among the leading countries in almost all other relevant rankings and statistics, trade and employment for example. See the U.S. GDP growth rate here. Just like in other countries, the American economy suffered a severe setback when the economic crisis occurred in 2008. The American economy entered a recession caused by the collapsing real estate market and increasing unemployment. Despite this, the standard of living is considered quite high; life expectancy in the United States has been continually increasing slightly over the past decade, the unemployment rate in the United States has been steadily recovering and decreasing since the crisis, and the Big Mac Index, which represents the global prices for a Big Mac, a popular indicator for the purchasing power of an economy, shows that the United States’ purchasing power in particular is only slightly lower than that of the euro area.

Out of all 50 states, New York had the highest per-capita real gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, at 90,730 U.S. dollars, followed closely by Massachusetts. Mississippi had the lowest per-capita real GDP, at 39,102 U.S. dollars. While not a state, the District of Columbia had a per capita GDP of more than 214,000 U.S. dollars. What is real GDP? A country’s real GDP is a measure that shows the value of the goods and services produced by an economy and is adjusted for inflation. The real GDP of a country helps economists to see the health of a country’s economy and its standard of living. Downturns in GDP growth can indicate financial difficulties, such as the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, when the U.S. GDP decreased by 2.5 percent. The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on U.S. GDP, shrinking the economy 2.8 percent. The U.S. economy rebounded in 2021, however, growing by nearly six percent. Why real GDP per capita matters Real GDP per capita takes the GDP of a country, state, or metropolitan area and divides it by the number of people in that area. Some argue that per-capita GDP is more important than the GDP of a country, as it is a good indicator of whether or not the country’s population is getting wealthier, thus increasing the standard of living in that area. The best measure of standard of living when comparing across countries is thought to be GDP per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) which uses the prices of specific goods to compare the absolute purchasing power of a countries currency.

In the three months to December 2024, average weekly earnings in the United Kingdom grew by 5.9 percent, while pay including bonuses also grew by six percent, when compared with the same period in 2023. In the same month, the inflation rate for the Consumer Price Index was 2.5 percent, indicating that wages were rising faster than prices that month. Average salaries in the UK In 2024, the average salary for full-time workers in the UK was 37,430 British pounds a year, up from 34,963 in the previous year. In London, the average annual salary was far higher than the rest of the country, at 47,455 pounds per year, compared with just 32,960 in North East England. There also still exists a noticeable gender pay gap in the UK, which was seven percent for full-time workers in 2024, down from 7.5 percent in 2023. Lastly, the monthly earnings of the top one percent in the UK was 15,887 pounds as of November 2024, far higher than even that of the average for the top five percent, who earned 7,641 pounds per month, while pay for the lowest 10 percent of earners was just 805 pounds per month. Waves of industrial action in the UK One of the main consequences of high inflation and low wage growth throughout 2022 and 2023 was an increase in industrial action in the UK. In December 2022, for example, there were approximately 830,000 working days lost due to labor disputes. Throughout this month, workers across various industry sectors were involved in industrial disputes, such as nurses, train drivers, and driving instructors. Many of the workers who took part in strikes were part of the UK's public sector, which saw far weaker wage growth than that of the private sector throughout 2022. Widespread industrial action continued into 2023, with approximately 303,000 workers involved in industrial disputes in March 2023. There was far less industrial action by 2024, however, due to settlements in many of the disputes, although some are ongoing as of 2025.

The statistic shows the gross domestic product (GDP) in Canada from 1987 to 2023, with projections up until 2029. In 2023, the gross domestic product in Canada was around 2.14 trillion U.S. dollars.

The economy of Canada

Canada is the second biggest country in the world after Russia and the biggest country in North America. Despite its large size, Canada has a relatively small population of just around 35.9 million people. However, the total population in Canada is estimated to grow to around 37.5 million inhabitants in 2020. The standard of living in the country is pretty high, the life expectancy as of 2013 in Canada ranks as one of the highest in the world. In addition, the country ranks number eight on the Human Development Index (HDI) worldwide.

All key factors point to a stable and sustainable economy. Not only is Canada’s population increasing, but the economy has been slowly recovering after the global financial crisis in 2008. The unemployment rate in Canada in 2010 was at approximately 8 percent (263696). Today, the unemployment rate in Canada is estimated to be around 6.8 percent, and it is estimated to decrease further. During the financial crisis in 2008, Canada's inflation rate amounted to around 2.4 percent. By 2013, the inflation rate was at less than 1 percent in comparison to the previous year.

Canada is considered to be one of the world’s wealthiest countries. By value of private financial wealth, Canada ranked seventh along with Italy. In addition, its gross domestic product per capita in 2014 was among the largest in the world and during the same year, its gross domestic product increased by over 2.5 percent in comparison to the previous year. Canada’s economic growth has been a result of its political stability and economic reforms following the global financial crisis. In the period between 2009 and 2010, Canada was among the leading countries with the highest political stability in the world.