The government of the United Kingdom spent over ****billion British pounds on disability living allowances in 2024/25, compared with ****billion in the previous financial year.

A January 2025 survey of adults in Great Britain indicated that people thought Brexit has had a mainly negative impact on many areas of life. According to the survey, the most negative of Brexit was on the cost of living in the UK, with 67 percent believing Brexit had a negative impact. By contrast, 31 percent believed that Brexit had improved the control the UK has over its own laws.

The economy was seen by 49 percent of people in the UK as one of the top three issues facing the country in June 2025. The ongoing cost of living crisis afflicting the UK, driven by high inflation, is still one of the main concerns of Britons. Immigration has generally been the second most important issue since the middle of 2024, just ahead of health, which was seen as the third-biggest issue in the most recent month. Labour's popularity continues to sink in 2025 Despite winning the 2024 general election with a strong majority, the new Labour government has had its share of struggles since coming to power. Shortly after taking office, the approval rating for Labour stood at -2 percent, but this fell throughout the second half of 2024, and by January 2025 had sunk to a new low of -47 percent. Although this was still higher than the previous government's last approval rating of -56 percent, it is nevertheless a severe review from the electorate. Among several decisions from the government, arguably the least popular was the government withdrawing winter fuel payments. This state benefit, previously paid to all pensioners, is now only paid to those on low incomes, with millions of pensioners not receiving this payment in winter 2024. Sunak's pledges fail to prevent defeat in 2024 With an election on the horizon, and the Labour Party consistently ahead in the polls, addressing voter concerns directly was one of the best chances the Conservatives had of staying in power in 2023. At the start of that year, Rishi Sunak attempted to do this by setting out his five pledges for the next twelve months; halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce national debt, cut NHS waiting times, and stop small boats. A year later, Sunak had at best only partial success in these aims. Although the inflation rate fell, economic growth was weak and even declined in the last two quarters of 2023, although it did return to growth in early 2024. National debt was only expected to fall in the mid to late 2020s, while the trend of increasing NHS waiting times did not reverse. Small boat crossings were down from 2022, but still higher than in 2021 or 2020. .

Between 2018 and 2022, people in households in the ‘other’, Asian and black ethnic groups were the most likely to be in persistent low income, both before and after housing costs, out of all ethnic groups.

In 2024/25, approximately 2.9 million emergency food parcels were distributed from Trussell Trust food banks in the United Kingdom, compared with 3.1 million in 2023/24. There has been a steep rise in food bank usage in the UK, with a threefold increase in the number of parcels distributed in 2023/24, compared with 2014/15. As of the most recent year, there were over 1,700 Trussell Trust food bank distribution centers in the UK, compared with 1,500 in 2018/19. Cost of Living crisis continues Since late 2021, UK households have had to grapple with a steep rise in the cost of living. This crisis appeared to have peaked in 2022, when around 90 percent of households were reporting monthly increases to their living costs, and inflation reached a 40-year high of 11.1 percent in October 2022. Although inflation subsequently came down and wages began to outpace inflation from 2023 onward, prices remain far higher than before the crisis began. Furthermore, the first half of 2025 has seen an uptick in inflation, which, although expected to subside towards the end of the year, has piled further misery on struggling UK households. Growing discontent with political mainstream After one year in power, the current Labour government is almost as unpopular as the Conservative government they replaced, which suffered one of their worst results in their history at the last election. To deal with the UK's precarious public finances without significant tax rises, Labour have attempted to make reforms to welfare, such as cutting the winter fuel allowances for all but the poorest pensioners. This cut in particular was so unpopular that Labour reinstated it for most pensioners, with further attempts at welfare reform also hitting a roadblock. These events, along with a stuttering economy, have seen Labour fall significantly at the polls, especially at the expense of the right-wing Reform Party, who have generally led the polls since the start of the year.

Portugal, Canada, and the United States were the countries with the highest house price to income ratio in 2024. In all three countries, the index exceeded 130 index points, while the average for all OECD countries stood at 116.2 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.