'Life's rubbish' for millions of brits, says the first national 'life index'
Thursday, 21 April 2011
• Petrol prices, government and local council actions, plus personal debt top list of consumer concerns
• Happiness is driven by family time, social life and ‘me time’
swiftcover.com’s new quarterly index rates the nation’s feelings across all aspects of life
In the first quarterly Life Index conducted on behalf of swiftcover.com, a quarter of adult Brits admit to being less happy today than this time last year.
Unhappiness has been driven by a number of concerns which range across a broad spectrum of everyday interests. However, there are notable concerns in certain areas, mostly those out of an individual’s control. Top of today’s concerns for British consumers across all age ranges is the continuing rise in petrol prices, with almost two-thirds (61 per cent) citing it as the most concerning aspect of life today (23 per cent are ‘extremely concerned’). This is despite the recent Budget which resulted in a 1p reduction in the price of a litre of petrol.
The index also found that those over 45 years old are the unhappiest, with a quarter (27 per cent) claiming to be more miserable now than a year ago, with almost half (45 per cent) citing concerns over financial pressures or debt as being the key reasons.
Amanda Edwards, senior marketing manager at swiftcover.com, who commissioned the Index, said: “It’s important to understand how we as a nation are feeling and what is making us happy or miserable. The research revealed some interesting findings which I’m sure will make a few people sit up and take notice.”
UK citizens noted that a major worry for them was the actions being taken by the Government (58 per cent concerned, 25 per cent extremely concerned) and local councils (44 per cent, 14 per cent extremely concerned). Financial pressures and debt also feature highly, with 42 per cent admitting to worrying about their financial situation.
| No. |
Area of concern |
Concerned (%) |
| 1 |
Petrol prices |
61 |
| 2 |
Government's actions |
58 |
| 3 |
Local council's actions |
44 |
| 4 |
Financial pressure's |
42 |
| 5 |
Crime levels |
38 |
Although the worries of the nation are clear to see, there are some areas where Brits are happy. The Index revealed that the areas of happiness were those which could be controlled by an individual and included family (62 per cent being happy with it) and social life (41 per cent being happy with it).
| No. |
Area of happiness |
Happy (%) |
| 1 |
Family Life |
62 |
| 2 |
Relationship |
58 |
| 3 |
Social Life |
41 |
| 4 |
Savings |
26 |
| 5 |
Income |
26 |
The Index also established the average amount of ‘me time’ the nation gets per day as it too is a contributor to the happiness levels. The results showed that on average, Brits get 2½hrs of free time each day. The 25 to 34 year old age range get the least free time with just 1½hrs of free time each day.
With this free time, 46 per cent of Brits look to get out and about to see the sites of Britain. Furthermore, people looking to see new and exciting things in their area are prepared to travel 44.8 miles (approximately one hour’s drive) from their home to a place of interest. However, 16 to 24 year olds aren’t prepared to go too far, with their journey tolerance set at 28.1 miles, compared to 52.2 miles for the over 55 year olds.
Edwards continued: “It’s encouraging to see that we are getting enough spare time to get out and about across Britain, helping to boost our level of happiness. Not only that, but we’re willing to travel a fair distance of over 40 miles to get to a place of interest.”
swiftcover.com recently launched Roadology on Facebook which enables users to plot journeys and routes alongside places of interest and things to do along the way. Partners include Visit England and Spotify. For more info, visit www.facebook.com/roadology.
Full access to the Life Index findings – broken down by demographic, gender and city - can be obtained by getting in touch with the below contacts.
swiftcover.com offers car, home, travel, motorbike and pet insurance, among other products.See www.swiftcover.com for more information.
-Ends-
Notes to Editors
Research in production of the Life Index was undertaken by Opinion Matters amongst 1,500 British adults (18+) across all demographics and regions.
For press enquiries please contact:
Luke O’Mahony or Sean Williams
Brazil (PR agency for swiftcover.com)
020 7785 7383
swiftcover@agencybrazil.com
About swiftcover:
Based in Cobham, Surrey and employing more than 1,000 people, swiftcover.com started trading in June 2005 and was born out of a desire to revolutionise the general insurance market by making insurance quick and easy to use.
swiftcover.com offers car, home, travel and pet insurance online, and is the only insurer in Britain not to use call centres, which provides cost savings that can be passed directly onto the customer, keeping premiums low. swiftcover.com was named Best Value for Money Car Insurer in the UK in the 2010 Lovemoney.com awards.
This powerful operating model combined with successful marketing and competitive pricing has proven to be a tremendous success. In 2008 swiftcover.com achieved over half a million live policies and in May 2009 sold its millionth policy. swiftcover.com is considered to be one of the fastest-growing insurers in the UK and, as of February 2011, has more than 800,000 policy holders.
In 2007, AXA UK acquired swiftcover.com. It is now a wholly owned subsidiary of AXA Insurance UK PLC which forms part of AXA Group.
About AXA:
AXA Group is a worldwide leader in insurance and asset management, with 216,000 employees serving 93 million clients. In 2010, IFRS revenues amounted to Euro 91 billion and IFRS underlying earnings to Euro 3.9 billion. AXA had Euro 1,104 billion in assets under management as of December 31, 2010.
The AXA ordinary share is listed on compartment A of Euronext Paris under the ticker symbol CS (ISNFR 0000120628 – Bloomberg: CS FP – Reuters: AXAF.PA). AXA’s American Depository Shares are also quoted on the OTC QX platform under the ticker symbol AXAHY.
The Group is included in the main international SRI indexes, such as Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) and FTSE4GOOD.
Our previous company performance is not a guide to how we may perform in the future.
Any opinions expressed in this media communication are made as at the date of this publication but are subject to change without notice.
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