More interesting stats

[andrewducker]

BBC article here comparing percentage of household expenses on various areas between 1957 and 2006.

Going Down:
Food spending has halved
Fuel/Power has halved
Clothing has halved
Tobacco is now a sixth of what it was

Going Up:
Housing has doubled
Transport has doubled

The Same:
Alcohol

What's particularly interesting is that between them, those items made up 75% of spending in 1957, but only 62% nowadays. Meaning that we have an extra 13% being spent on other things.

Not that it's made us any happier - people are pretty much exactly as happy as they were in 1957.

The ownership graph at the bottom is also fascinating. Of the poorest 10th of society, 31% have a computer, 21% have the internet, 56% have a mobile and 50% have satellite/cable TV.

(Boiler man has just left - now waiting to see if the heating works for an hour before I head into work!)

Comments

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

OK can you find out figs for nos of UK national PhD students these days as opposed to 10/20 years ago?

[fannymagnate.livejournal.com]

Why would you want to know such a thing?!

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Cos personal experience suggests numbers have grown enormously and I wondered if it was really true..

[fannymagnate.livejournal.com]

I wonder why you are so interested in this topic in particular.

I'm also wondering idly how many more professors there are nowadays compared to 20 years ago . . .

[surliminal.livejournal.com]

Oh loads more if you mean "Professor" = "Chair" and not American parlance. a) we have far more "universitiers" b) becoming a professor is now simply a senior promotion - it does not mean you are the sole top person in your department, nor that you have an "endowed" or "ancient" chair.

[matgb]

Alcohol stats have changed a lot from Shakespeare's time though. According to a book on the Glorious Revolution, average Englishman spent 25% of their annual income on beer or ale.

Interesting comparison though, will have a proper look over recently

[johnbobshaun.livejournal.com]

Boiler Man would be a rubbish superhero.