Cost of living: North-South divide widens as prices rise, says report (2024)

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Cost of living: North-South divide widens as prices rise, says report? ›

Cost of living: North-South divide widens as prices rise, says report. The North-South divide is widening in the UK as the cost of living rises, according to analysis by a think tank. The Centre For Cities study said the real inflation rate in Burnley in May was nearly 30% higher than in London and Cambridge.

Prices have grown about 20% overall since 2020, according to an analysis by the California Legislative Analyst's Office based on the most recent consumer price index data.

The 'cost of living crisis' is now a familiar phrase as prices of everyday goods have increased dramatically in recent years. In the U.S., prices remain high while consumer prices have been increasing around the world, too, with average global inflation at 6.8% in 2023.

Although there have been attempts to attract investment into the north, many businesses are choosing to set up in the south. This creates a large wealth divide and those living in the north of the country experience significantly different social and economic conditions from those living in the south.

Explanation. Industrial decline is most usually given as an explanation for the north–south divide. During the Industrial Revolution, many northern cities underwent a process of intense industrialisation, as raw materials such as coal and iron ore could be found in these areas.

Sudan's cost of living catastrophe

Sudan is currently at the top of the IRC's Emergency Watchlist for 2024. After one year of fighting, the country is experiencing the world's worst displacement crisis and one of the world's worst hunger crises.

The price of everything, from a sack of flour to a winter coat, keeps climbing every year. Since 1970, the Consumer Price Index saw a 500%-plus increase. Even after adjusting for inflation, today's dollar buys a whole lot less than it did 50 or even 25 years ago.

Supply chain bottlenecks and soaring demand for goods and services following the re-opening of the economy after the pandemic-related lockdowns sent prices for goods and services skyrocketing to four-decade highs last summer. But over the last few months, inflation has been decelerating.

The three causes of inflation are demand-pull (when the demand for goods and services is greater than the supply, putting upward pressure on prices), cost-push (when the total supply of goods and services that can be produced falls), and built-in inflation, also known as inflation expectations.

But the short answer is “almost definitely, no.”

How to reduce the North-south divide? ›

What can be done? The government' approach to this major national problem is to concentrate expenditure in the regions on improving their infrastructure, raising education and training standards, and increasing grants to local authorities and police forces.

Criticism. The North-South Divide is criticized for being a way of segregating people along economic lines and is seen as a factor of the widening gap between developed and developing economies.

The English often talk about the Great Divide between the North and the South. There are many differences in culture and attitudes. Whereas northerners are seen as being more open, talkative and sociable, southerners are considered more withdrawn, treating strangers politely and correctly.

People living in the North, Midlands and Wales typically face being nearly £340 a year worse off than those living in the South, researchers found.

Slavery drove the Southern economy while the Northern states were busy building an economic Leviathan. The North possessed 70 percent of the country's wealth… and invested in labor-saving devices, in both agriculture and industry. The South invested in slaves.

The pool of indigenous labour helped to hold down wages in South. There was no incentive to improve the ways of production as there was no need to keep the costs down (they already were low). To start with, he majority of the settlers to the South America were missionaries, administrators, soldiers.

Each year, the SSA automatically applies a COLA to payments made to those receiving Social Security and SSI. For 2024, the COLA increase is 3.2%, calculated based on the rise in the CPI-W from the third quarter of 2022 through the third quarter of 2023.

Over the year ended January 2024, the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers increased 3.1 percent. Food prices rose 2.6 percent, while energy prices decreased 4.6 percent.

In 2023, the average rate of inflation was 4.1%. In 2022, the average rate of inflation was 8.0%. In 2021, the average rate of inflation was 4.7%. In 2020, the average rate of inflation was 1.2%.6.

And yet, hidden behind these boomy-economic indicators, a frustrating reality persists: Life is far too expensive for far too many. From the historically unaffordable housing market and budget-breaking day care rates to high car prices, the United States has a cost of living problem many years in the making.