Yesterday the Office for National Statistics published their annual Social Trends report. It provides "an up to date and comprehensive description of society, drawing on statistics from a wide range of government departments and other organisations to show how society is changing, as well as some of the factors which may be driving these trends." It's hugely detailed, so something to peruse for hours rather than skim in minutes. If you fancy a read, the 283-page pdf is here. If not, here are a (very) few choice statistical snippets that caught my eye. What a changing country we live in.
Population of the UK (million)
1971
1981
1991
2001
2011
2021
2031
56
56½
57½
59
63
67
71
UK households (by number of inhabitants)
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
more
29%
35%
16%
13%
5%
2%
Household ownership of consumer durables
Telephone
Mobile
Internet
Digital TV
1997
94%
20%
< 10%
27%
2007
89%
78%
60%
78%
Household savings (percentage of households)
No savings
up to £1500
up to £10000
up to £20000
£20000 or more
24%
24%
25%
10%
17%
Cost of selected items
dozen eggs
1 pint milk
800g white loaf
20 cigarettes
pint beer
1971
26p
5p
10p
27p
15p
2007
£2.14
37p
90p
£5.02
£2.62
Source of greenhouse gas emissions (million tonnes CO2 equivalent)
Power & water
Households
Manufacturing
Transport
Agriculture
201
152
114
98
50
Passenger transport (billion passenger kilometres)
Car/van
Bus/coach
Bike
M'bike
Rail
Air
1971
313
60
4
4
35
2
2007
689
50
4
6
59
10
Readership of national daily newspapers
1978
1988
1998
2008
72%
67%
56%
44%
Also tucked away inside: • Table 2.8 Adults living with their parents: by age and sex • Figure 2.15 Civil partnerships: by sex, 2005 to 2007 • Figure 3.6 How confident parents feel helping their children with homework: by school year of child • Figure 4.10 Managers and senior officials in employment: by ethnic group • Table 7.11 Adults drinking more than the recommended guidelines: by sex and socio-economic classification • Table 13.18 Regularity of emotional support or ‘catching up’ with close friends or relatives: by sex and mode of contact
