Daily Research News Online no. 3031 - British Not 'Time Poor', Says Mintel

British Not 'Time Poor', Says Mintel

March 31 2004

Mintel's annual report on British Lifestyles claims that the British are not really as pushed for time as is sometimes thought, and that there are, after all, 'enough hours in the day' for the majority of us. It's already causing controversy and is certainly news to us so we hope DRNO readers will find it interesting as well...

Mintel questioned over 2000 adults and found that only 5% feel they never have any free time at all, whereas 80% said they have enough spare time and time to relax. However, only one in four (25%) working adults feel that they have a lot of free time, either in the evenings or at weekends.

The report divides consumers into groups in terms of their free time and time management. The largest group (33%) is made up of those who are 'Busy Enough' - these are busy but still find the time to relax. The second largest group is 'Time Rich' (30%), who have time during the week and at weekends to do what they want. Next come the 'Leisure Constrained' (16%) and the 'Chilled' (14%), with the 'Time Short', who feel starved of time, much the smallest group on 8% and 'mostly made up of working mums'.

Peter Ayton, Chief Statistician at Mintel, describes Britain as 'a nation quite content with our lot and if anything, with more than enough time on our hands. We do not live in a cash rich, time poor society after all, but in one that is both cash rich and time rich'.

'Despite longer working hours than most other European countries' continues Ayton, 'we save time in other areas so that we have the time to do what we want to and to relax at home'. The report details many of these areas of time saving, along with their implications for businesses - they include convenience foods and fast food, ordering goods and running bank accounts on the Internet, and going direct to the pharmacist for healthcare needs - most of which will be covered in a separate DRNO article later in the week.

Women are still more likely than men to be doing the household chores, but all the statistics provided in Mintel's press release show a significant proportion of men getting involved. 45% of women - but also 27% of men - are looking for someone to help around the house. Similarly, 42% of women want somewhere to do all the shopping in one place but so do 27% of men. Conversely, a third of men (34%) want shorter working hours but so do a fifth (21%) of women.

The research suggests that spending time with the family (45%) and relaxing at home (38%) are the things that the British feel that they would most like to do more. But British families are changing: the average size of the British household is falling (from 2.5 in 1993, to just 2.3 in 2003) and is expected to continue to fall for some time to come. Meanwhile the number of televisions per household is rising rapidly - more than a third of households (38%) have three or more sets, and the mean is now 2.3 sets per household which means, of course, one per person.

There are a number of factors in the shrinking size of households. Firstly, the number of people living alone has risen from 6.38 million in 1993 to some 7.46 million in 2003 and by 2008 this figure is expected be more than 8 million. Between 1998 and 2003 the number of single person households grew by 18%, while households with four or more people decreased by around 1%.

Secondly, women are postponing having children until later in life. While 10 or so years ago it was women aged between 25 and 29 years old who were having the most babies, today it is those aged 30 - 34 years old. The number of weddings has also fallen since 1998, apart from a slight increase around the Millennium, while divorces have remained at roughly the same level.

DRNO will be looking later in the week at the results relating to food, health, travel, clothing, leisure, and savings & investments.

Mintel's Web site is at www.mintel.com . For some individuals with contrasting views, from 'It is difficult to recognise in this description the country that I see' to 'Perhaps all these people with some spare time would like to help with my jungle of a garden', see the response from readers of the BBC's web site http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3582821.stm