April 29th, 2022, Janice Fernandes
A recent YouGov survey asks consumers across 18 markets about the categories where they’ve noticed price inflation the most over the past year.
We asked consumers whether the prices of fresh fruits and vegetables, other food items, furniture and household items, electronic goods, admission to entertainment venues and clothes have gone up or down compared to 12 months ago.
While global consumers find that the overall cost of living has gone up, a plurality of them also say that the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables, and other food items has gone up a lot (42% in each case). This share falls in other categories but around one in five consumers are still saying that they have noticed prices go ‘up a lot’ in furniture and other household goods, in electric goods, admission to entertainment venues and in clothes.
Cost of fresh fruits and vegetables
Analysing the data across all 18 markets reveals that nearly two thirds of Mexicans (64%) and Canadians (63%) say that the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables has gone up a lot compared to 12 months ago. Americans are less likely to say the same, but the number is still significantly high (50%).
In Europe, a lower share of Britons (35%) say the prices have gone up a lot. Sweden (26%) and Denmark (16%) have a lower proportion of people who share the same view. However, that’s not to say they haven’t noticed inflation - they are the most likely markets to say that the cost of fresh fruits and vegetables has gone up a little – Denmark (54%), GB (49%), Sweden (44%).
Australians follow a similar pattern to global respondents with 42% of consumers reporting that fruits and vegetables cost a lot more, and nearly two in five saying they cost a little more (39%).
According to a third of Indonesians (32%), the cost of fruits and vegetables has remained the same over the last 12 months. More than two in ten consumers in Denmark (24%), Sweden and UAE (22% each) also say the same.
Cost of other food items
Poland (69%), Canada (61%), Mexico (59%) and Spain (57%) once again take the top four spots when it comes to agreeing that the cost of other (non-fruit and veg) costs have gone up a lot. More than half of Americans also think the same is true (55%). Britons are more likely to say that the cost of packaged food has gone up a lot (46%) compared to fresh fruit and vegetables (35%).
Denmark and Sweden are once again among the markets least likely to say the cost has gone up a lot (27% and 25% respectively) but most likely to say that it has gone up a little (54% and 50% respectively).
China registers the lowest share of consumers who think the price of non-fruit and vegetable food has risen a lot (10%), while half of them say it has risen a little (50%). Nearly a third of Chinese consumers say the price has remained the same (29%). One in 20 say it has gone down a little, similar to consumers in the UAE (5%).
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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.