April 28th, 2022, Janice Fernandes
A plurality of global consumers say that the cost of living has gone up by a lot compared to 12 months ago. In a new YouGov survey conducted across 18 markets, we ask consumers if the price of fresh fruits and vegetables, other food items, furniture and household items, electronic goods, admission to entertainment venues and clothes has gone up or down compared to 12 months ago.
More than two in five global consumers say the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables and other food items (42% each) has risen considerably. Slightly fewer consumers say the price of retail products like electronic goods (21%) and clothes (17%) has gone up a lot.
Cost of electronic goods
Supply chain issues which have plagued the electronic and tech sector has been identified as one of the main reasons behind the surge in product prices. While 21% of overall global consumers find the prices of electronic goods has gone up a lot, that share is almost doubled among Mexicans (39%). The other North American markets, which largely import electronic goods, are also more likely than global respondents to say the same is true – US (30%) and Canada (28%).
Countries in the European market are divided in their opinion. While Poland (30%) and Spain (27%) are more likely than the global audience to find that the cost of laptops and cell phones has gone up a lot, one in five French and German consumers (21%) say the same. That share is halved among consumers in Sweden and Denmark (9% each).
Data reveals that Hong Kong registers the highest share of consumers who say the price of electronics has remained the same compared to 12 months ago (44%). It is also one of the few markets where around one in ten consumers say that electronics cost a little less now (9%), second only to China (12%).
While most markets surveyed in this study register around 1-2% of consumers who find that cost of electronics has gone down a lot, that share rises slightly in the UAE with nearly one in 20 consumers (4%) saying likewise.
Cost of clothes
The North American markets take the top three spots among all 18 markets where consumers are more likely to say that the cost of clothing has gone up a lot – Mexico (32%), US and Canada (27% each).
Most markets across the globe, are almost as likely as overall global respondents (36%) to say that clothes have been costing a little more. A few markets like Mexico and Spain (43% each), Great Britain and China (41% each) over-index the global audience (36%), while Hong Kong drops down to around two in ten consumers (21%).
Like electronic goods, Hong Kong registers the highest share of consumers who think the prices of clothes has remained the same (50%). Slightly fewer consumers in Denmark (46%) say the same is true, followed by Indonesians (41%).
Consumers in Hong Kong are also most likely to say they find clothes cost a little less now compared to 12 months ago (14%). The other markets where nearly one in ten consumers think on similar lines include China (9%), UAE (8%), India and Indonesia (7% each).
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Methodology: The data is based on the interviews of adults aged 18 and over in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 513 and 2007 for each market. All interviews were conducted online in February 2022. Data from each market uses a nationally representative sample apart from Mexico and India, which use urban representative samples, and Indonesia and Hong Kong, which use online representative samples.