Wales
Lacking consumer durables
Key points
- Reflecting the rise in real incomes over time, the proportion of low income households lacking selected consumer durables has fallen considerably over the last decade. So for example, 15% of households in the poorest fifth lack washing machines compared to 30% in 1992, 15% lack a microwave compared to 60% in 1992 and 10% lack a freezer compared to 35% in 1992.
- Nevertheless, these proportions are all still much higher than their equivalents for households on average incomes.
Graph 1: Over time
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Definitions and data sources
The graph shows the proportion of households lacking one or more selected consumer durables, namely microwaves, VCRs, freezers, washing machines and colour televisions. For each item, four pieces of data are shown:
- The proportion of the poorest fifth lacking the item in 1992.
- The proportion of those on average incomes lacking the item in 1992.
- The proportion of the poorest fifth lacking the item in 2005/06.
- The proportion of those on average incomes lacking the item in 2005/06.
The data source for the graph is the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). Income is household income, not equivalised (adjusted) to account for differences in household size and composition.
Overall adequacy of the indicator: medium. The choice of consumer durables in the analysis is largely driven by the data availability and is somewhat arbitrary.