Island Global Research have conducted an online survey about the cost of living in Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar.
The survey was completed by 2660 residents – 672 from Jersey, 744 from Guernsey, 1013 from the Isle of Man and 231 from Gibraltar. Data collection took place between 12th April and 7th May 2024.
The survey was undertaken to gain high-level insights into experiences and perceptions of the cost of living in each island. It asked about respondents’ financial position, recent changes to their cost of living, and their opinion more generally on inequality in living standards today and in the future.
This is a survey Island Global Research first conducted in 2022, and results from this survey have been benchmarked to the 2022 findings.
Key Findings for each location:
Jersey
- 10% cannot afford costs and often have to go without essentials
- 48% of those who cannot afford costs rent their property
- 13% could not afford an unexpected but necessary expense of £100
- Around 2 in 5 would struggle to afford a £100 per month increase in living expenses
- 49% found it difficult to meet living costs in the last 12 months
- 36% of people have found it difficult to meet the cost of food, up 6 percentage points on 2022
- 1 in 4 have received support to finance their everyday living expenses in the last 6 months
- 88% agreed the rising cost of living was impacting their household
- Around a third are extremely concerned about the future impact changes to cost of living will have on their household
- 59% are very concerned about poverty and inequality in living standards today
- 55% think inequality in living standards will get a lot bigger in the future
Guernsey
- 7% cannot afford costs and often have to go without essentials
- 41% of those who cannot afford costs rent their property
- 10% said they could not afford an unexpected but necessary expense of £100
- 38% would struggle to afford a £100 per month increase in living expenses
- 50% found it difficult to meet living costs in the last 12 months
- 37% of people have found it difficult to meet the cost of home maintenance, up 10 percentage points on 2022
- 27% have received support to finance their everyday living expenses in the last 6 months
- 86% agreed the rising cost of living was impacting their household
- 1 in 4 are extremely concerned about the future impact changes to cost of living will have on their household
- 53% are very concerned about poverty and inequality in living standards today
- 56% think inequality in living standards will get a lot bigger in the future
Isle of Man
- 8% cannot afford costs and often have to go without essentials
- 38% of those who cannot afford costs rent their property
- 14% said they could not afford an unexpected but necessary expense of £100
- 42% would struggle to afford a £100 per month increase in living expenses
- 48% found it difficult to meet living costs in the last 12 months
- 12% of people have found it difficult to meet the cost of transport, down 4 percentage points on 2022
- Around 1 in 4 have received support to finance their everyday living expenses in the last 6 months
- 84% agreed the rising cost of living was impacting their household
- Just under a third are extremely concerned about the future impact changes to cost of living will have on their household
- 42% are very concerned about poverty and inequality in living standards today
- 43% think inequality in living standards will get a lot bigger in the future
