How much?! Comparing prices to 20 years ago

We all know about the cost of living crisis. Prices of electricity and petrol have rocketed - but what about our everyday costs, such as milk and bread? We compare prices now to 20 years ago.

According to statista-com, the average annual UK salary in 2002 was £20,376. today it’s about £31,285. A quick calculation shows an increase of 53.5 per cent. So let’s see if our everyday costs have increased by more than that over the past 20 years?

36p a pint in 2002 and is 46p now - a rise of only 27 per cent. Not too bad, however you then hear stories...

Sainsbury’s, for example, have set the price in its smaller branches, but have also put two pints up to £1.35 – almost three times the price of 2021.

Last year, one shopper saw his food shop rise during the order, seeing his milk go up 10p during his online shop.

A bottle of wine in 2022 in a supermarket was £3.22 now it’s £6.09 - that's an increase of 90 per cent.

While the average price of a pint was £2.10, today it's £4.07 - up 93 per cent. It's not all bad, though, as the UK has high alcohol duty rates due to historically high levels of heavy drinking and high rates of harm - hence the cost and, hopefully, improvement on health.

Bread has gone up by 103 per cent, from 53p to an average of £1.08.

It's bad news for chocolate fans, too. A Mars bar was 30p in 2002 - it's now 74p; that's up 146 per cent. But don’t feel too bad, fruit and vegetable prices have also increased at an alarming rate.

The price of food in October 2023 was around 30% higher than it was in October 2021. This worrying fact was reported on Yahoo finance.

Your average cinema ticket was £4.29 in 2002. Today it’s £6.75, that's up 57 per cent. And speak to your mortgage advisor about a loan if you want to buy popcorn.

The average cost of a wedding has doubled. In 2002 it was between £12,000- £15,000 and today it's around £30,000 on average. But that’s no reason not to propose, just perhaps a smaller affair?

Image: Jeremy Wong Weddings / Unsplash

And then there's petrol. I’m sure you don’t need telling about this one. In 2002 the cost was a mere 71p a litre. Fast forward 20 years and, as you too well know, it's 165p - up 132 per cent. Mad Max looks more realistic every year.

In 2002 the average monthly energy bill for a UK household was £50 - now it's as much as £166. That's up an incredible 232 per cent. Many disgruntled Brits believe this surely can’t be allowed to continue.

Usually a mortgage is determined by how much you earn. So bad news here for people looking to get on the property ladder. Salaries may have risen by 50 percent but average house prices have risen more than 113 percent: the average house price in 2002 was 121,700 pounds, now it’s 260,000 pounds.

Inflation keeps upping our prices, but it doesn't dampen our hearts. It's not all doom and gloom, some items like televisions and airplane tickets have gone down significantly in price so, our advice? Binge Netflix and get a good holiday in!

Image: John McArthur / Unsplash

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