February 2nd, 2024, Lesley Simeon
Last year wasn’t easy on wallets and budgets. Did consumers happen to miss their payments? We look at what YouGov data has to say about this.
Our survey asked consumers across 17 international markets about which payments they missed last year. Data reveals that credit card payments (8%), energy/utility bills (8%), loan repayments (7%), internet broadband (7%) and mobile phones bills (7%) are among those consumers most likely missed last year.
Consumers in the UAE most likely across to markets to have missed payments across a number of categories
Looking at data from individual markets, consumers in the UAE account for the largest proportion of consumers across markets who missed payments across various categories. These include energy/utility (15%), internet/broadband (13%), housing (like rent or mortgage) (13%) and insurance (13%), car payments (9%) and childcare (8%).
Among our European consumers, 9% of Poles missed paying an energy bill – making them the most likely in Europe, followed by Italians (7%)
Consumers in the UAE were also most likely to have missed paying for their memberships, like gym memberships (14%), followed by those in Mexico (13%) and Indonesia (12%). In Europe, consumers in France lead when it comes to missing paying up for memberships (7%), followed by those in the US (6%).
Mexicans were the most likely last year across markets to miss their credit card payments (17%) and loan repayments (16%). Consumers in the USA (12%) and Canada (12%) are among the most likely, after Mexico and UAE (13%) to have missed their credit card payments last year. As for Europe, Brits were the most likely to have missed their credit card payments (6%). As for those who missed their loan repayments, consumers in France (7%) and Poland (7%) lead among Europeans.
Within Europe, Poles account for the largest proportion of consumers who missed their house-related payments last year (7%), followed by the French (5%). The cost-of-living crisis dominated headlines last year, making its pricey presence felt in a number of sectors - the housing, real estate and energy spaces were no exceptions, be it in Europe or Asia.
Consumers in the UAE (14%) and Australia (14%) were most likely to miss their mobile phone bills. Within India, consumers most likely missed paying their energy/utility bills (14%) and internet/broadband bills (12%).
Americans account for the largest proportion of consumers across markets who defaulted on their medical bills (11%) last year, followed by consumers in UAE (10%) and Singapore (10%). Germans (5%) and French (5%) account for the largest proportion of consumers in Europe, who missed paying their medical bills.
Further, in Europe, the French were most likely to miss their car payments (7%) and paying for childcare (7%).
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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 17 markets with sample sizes varying between 500 and 2001 for each market. All surveys were conducted online in November 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.
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