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When is debt a ‘problem’?

Lots of attention on total size of unsecured household debt

  • Now more than £200 billion on the Bank of England’s measure

Might be important for financial stability...

... but poor guide to extent to which debt is a problem for households

  • More than 60% of unsecured debt held by households with above-average incomes
  • More than half of households with unsecured debt have enough financial assets to pay them off

    Authors

    Presentation details

    DOI
    10.1920/ps.ifs.2024.0510
    Publisher
    IFS

    Suggested citation

    Hood, A. (2018). 'Household debt in Great Britain' [Presentation]. London: IFS. Available at: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/household-debt-great-britain (accessed: 21 July 2026).

    Grant

    Centre for the Microeconomic Analysis of Public Policy (CPP), 2015-2020 Enhancing our understanding of poverty and low income

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