Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: July 2025

The following information is from data collected from 2 to 27 July 2025, based on adults in Great Britain.

• When asked about the important issues facing the UK today, the most commonly reported issues were the cost of living (85%), the NHS (81%), and the economy (67%).

• Reporting of immigration and crime as important issues has increased since October 2022, with 63% of adults now identifying immigration and 58% identifying crime as important, up from 43% and 49%, respectively.

• Younger adults (aged under 50 years) were more likely to report the cost of living as an important issue facing the UK today, while older adults (aged over 50 years) were more likely to report the NHS.

• Around 6 in 10 adults (59%) reported that their cost of living has increased in the last month; this proportion has been declining since April 2025 (72%), but remains higher than July 2024 (45%).

• The most commonly reported reasons for a rise in the cost of living were increases in the price of food shopping (95%), energy bills (57%), and fuel (45%); the proportion reporting fuel as a reason has increased from 37% in May 2025.

In the latest period (2 to 27 July 2025), the cost of living (85%) and the NHS (81%) continued to be the most commonly reported important issues facing the UK (Figure 1). The proportion of adults identifying the NHS as an important issue has remained broadly stable since October 2022 (82%). In contrast, the proportion reporting the cost of living as an important issue has gradually declined over the same period, from 93% in October 2022.

The proportions of adults reporting the economy (67%) and climate change and the environment (56%) as important issues have also decreased since October 2022, when these proportions were 79% and 66%, respectively.

By comparison, the proportions of adults reporting immigration (63%) and crime (58%) as important issues have increased, compared with October 2022 (43% and 49%, respectively). The proportion reporting employment (43%) as an important issue has also increased over the same period, up from 31% in October 2022.

Figure 1: The cost of living, the NHS, and the economy have been the most commonly reported important issues facing the UK since October 2022

Proportion of adults reporting each important issue, Great Britain, October 2022 to July 2025

Notes:

1. Respondents could select more than one option.

Important issues by age

The cost of living and the NHS were the two most commonly reported important issues across all age groups. The cost of living was the most reported issue among those aged 16 to 29 years (86%) and 30 to 49 years (92%). The NHS was most commonly reported by those aged 50 to 69 years (87%) and 70 years and over (85%).

Estimates of important issues by age group are available for all time periods collected in Table 27 of our Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: personal well-being and loneliness dataset.

Around three in five adults (59%) reported that their cost of living had increased in July 2025. This proportion has declined since April 2025 (72%), when several annual price increases came into effect, including for mobile phone contracts, council tax, and water bills. The decline in the proportion of adults reporting an increase in their cost of living during the summer months may partly reflect seasonal factors, such as reduced energy usage for heating.

Over the same period, the proportion of adults reporting that their cost of living had remained the same increased from 27% to 39%. Around 1 in 50 adults (2%) said their cost of living had decreased in the past month (Figure 3).

Reasons for cost-of-living increases

The most commonly reported reason for a rise in the cost of living in the latest period continued to be the price of food shopping (95%), which has been the case since we first asked the question in November 2021 (Figure 4).

The proportion of adults reporting energy bills as a reason for their increased cost of living was 57%, continuing a gradual decline since January 2025 (79% in the period 8 January to 2 February). This is higher than the proportion reported in July 2024 (45% in the period 5 to 28 July), but similar to July 2023 (55% in the period 12 to 23 July).

Over 4 in 10 adults (45%) reported that the price of fuel was a reason for their increased cost of living. This has increased from 37% in May 2025. For more information on fuel prices, see the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero's weekly fuel price release.

The analysis in this bulletin is based on adults aged 16 years and over in Great Britain.

In the latest period, 2 to 27 July, we sampled 9,564 households. This sample was randomly selected from people who had previously completed the Labour Market Survey (LMS) or Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN). The responding sample for the latest period contained 4,671 individuals, representing a 49% response rate.

From 7 May to 27 July 2025, there was an incentives trial being conducted, offering conditional incentives to some groups. The aim of the trial was to assess its impact on response rates among underrepresented groups.

Survey weights were applied to make estimates representative of the population, based on our population estimates. Estimates for some groups of the population may be subject to greater uncertainty because of smaller sample sizes for these groups (for example, younger adults).

From the 2 to 27 July 2025 data collection period onwards, the population totals used in weighting OPN estimates are based on 2022 mid-year estimates using updated population projections. For England and Wales, they are projected forward using scaling factors from 2021-based national population projections. For Scotland, they are projected forward using scaling factors from 2020-based national population projections.

For all estimates in the datasets, confidence intervals are provided. Where comparisons between estimates are made, associated confidence intervals should be used to assess the statistical significance of the differences. In some cases, additional statistical hypothesis testing was performed to identify differences between groups.

Further information on the survey design and quality can be found in our Opinions and Lifestyle Survey Quality and Methodology Information (QMI).

Office for National Statistics (ONS), released 15 August 2025, ONS website, statistical bulletin, Public opinions and social trends, Great Britain: July 2025