OECD Figures Make Interesting Reading

Two subjects regularly in the news are spending on the National Health Service and migration. However, is our situation exceptional compared to other nations?

Are we overspending on healthcare and are we being overrun by migrants?

Figures from the OECD found that:

• Income inequality in the United Kingdom is the sixth largest in the OECD, in terms of the Gini coefficient, and has been well above the OECD average in the last three decades. In 2012 , the average income of the top 10% was 10.5 times higher than that of the bottom 10%, up from a ratio of 7 to 1 in the mid-1980s and 9 to 1 in the mid-1990s. This compares to an OECD average of 9.6 to 1 in 2013.
• Wealth inequality is higher than income inequality. In the UK, the top 10% owns around 47% of all net wealth, while the top 10% of income earners get 28% of income. The financial crisis has exacerbated the concentration of wealth at the top. While on average net wealth has declined since 2007, the net wealth of the top percentiles has increased.
• Income poverty (measured as half of the national median household income), concerns around 10.5% of the population in the United Kingdom, a rate close to the OECD average of 11%.
• Between 2007 and 2012 the average household disposable income fell by accumulated 8.6%, less at the bottom tenth of the distribution (6%) and more at the top tenth (11%).
• While the average household income in the UK is about 10% lower than in Germany and France, the average income of the bottom 10% in the UK is 40% lower than in France and 49% in Germany.

Image: Our healthcare spending is not exceptional. 

Image: Migration has grown enormously worldwide but the UK is not exceptional looking at the number of migrants we have accepted contrary to popular opinion. However there has been a significant increase since 2000 a trend now in decline.