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Written question asked by Vincent Cable (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 14 December 2005, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 19 December 2005. It was answered by John Healey (Labour) on Tuesday, 20 December 2005 on behalf of the Office for National Statistics.

Personal Debt

Question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the average personal (a) unsecured debt and (b) total debt was as a percentage of income in each year since 1997.
Answer

The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.Letter from Colin Mowl, dated 20 December 2005:"The National Statistician has been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question on the average personal (a) unsecured debt and, (b) total debt as a percentage of income in each year since 1997. I am replying in her absence. (38474)""The information requested is shown in the table below. The data for debt and households' gross disposable income used in the calculations are for the combined household and non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH) sectors. The information for the household sector is not available separately. The denominator in the calculations is the population aged 16+."

Average personal unsecured debt(end-year)(£) Average total debt (end-year)(£) Average household disposable income (£) Unsecured debt as a percentage of income (end-year) Total debt as a percentage of income (end-year)
1997 3,439 12,863 12,311 27.9 104
1998 3,692 13,654 12,696 29.1 107
1999 3,966 14,679 13,255 29.9 111
2000 4,309 15,868 13,960 30.9 114
2001 4,730 17,395 14,774 32.0 118
2002 5,412 19,694 15,151 35.7 130
2003 5,818 22,198 15,777 36.9 141
2004 6,726 25,132 16,198 41.5 155

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
38474; 440 c2802-4W
Session
2005-06
Subjects
Debts Income Disposable income
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk