April 10th, 2023, Bhavika Bansal
A recent YouGov survey revealed a substantial level of pessimism about the global economy amongst global consumers. While more than two-fifths predicted that they would need to reduce discretionary spending to avoid debt (44%), a fifth also believe that they will have to use credit to cover their outgoings over the next 12 months (20%).
A new YouGov poll asked consumers across 18 key international markets what kinds of purchases they thought they would have to take on debt to pay for in the coming year. The data reveals that a majority of consumers (55%) do not foresee taking on debt for any purchases in the next year.
One out of eight global consumers say they are likely to incur debt to cover housing costs (12%) followed by less than a tenth who are likely to do so for transportation costs (9%). An equal proportion of consumers indicate they are likely to take on debt in the coming year to pay for travel, utilities, consumer electronics, and food (8% for all).
Taking a closer look at consumers who foresee taking on debt in order to travel reveals some interesting differences.
The UAE has the highest proportion of consumers who say that they are likely to take on debt this year to travel (20%). Consumers in Mexico (16%), India (16%) and Canada (12%) are also likelier than all other markets to borrow money to cover travel expenses.
Unlike their North American neighbors in Mexico and Canada, a significantly lesser proportion of Americans (6%) expect to incur debt to travel over the next 12 months.
A similar situation exists when it comes to the APAC markets. Compared to 16% of consumers in India, less than a tenth of consumers across all other APAC markets say they foresee using credit to travel (Australia, 9%; China, 8%; Hong Kong, 8%; Indonesia, 7%, Singapore, 4%).
European consumers are far less likely to take on debt to meet travel expenses. Consumers in Italy, Spain and Poland (8% for all) are as likely as the average global consumer to take on debt to pay for travel in the coming year. Consumers in the Nordics – Denmark (3%) and Sweden (3%) - are the least likely of all to take on debt to cover travel costs over the next 12 months.
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Methodology: YouGov Surveys: Serviced provide quick survey results from nationally representative or targeted audiences in multiple markets. The data is based on surveys of adults aged 18+ years in 18 markets with sample sizes varying between 512 and 2034 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in February 2023. 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. Learn more about YouGov Surveys: Serviced.