A study of 10 years worth of data from Aviva, the UK’s largest insurer, reveals the most common British house name is the very conventional “The Cottage” and it is occupied by the “Smiths” who reside in the “High Street.”
There are two cars in the drive, one of which is a Ford Fiesta and the most popular holiday destination is still good old Spain.
But some more modern-day traits are creeping in – while we may no longer be a nation of smokers, most of us don’t exercise and dinners are mainly eaten in front of Eastenders on a 32-inch wide telly.
Their contents and claims
The average homeowner values their prized possessions at £28,000 – including furnishings, clothes and personal belongings. But however prized they are, the average person is still rather clumsy with nearly 50% of contents claims due to accidental damage, costing on average over £350.
The top five items replaced in the home after being stolen, lost or damaged are:
1. 32“ Toshiba television
2. Samsung Laptop
3. Sony Playstation 3 Slim 120GB Console
4. Samsung Tocco Lite mobile
5. Xbox 360 Elite Console.
Rise and shine
Brits are a nation of early risers with 50% of us getting up for work between 6am and 7am and 50% of us commuting by car.
Workers that lunch
Mr and Mrs Average tend not to go out for air at lunchtime, resulting in 27% heading to the canteen, kitchen or quiet area for a snack and over 20% eating sandwiches at their desk. Over 7% of people don’t stop for lunch at all.
Leisurely lifestyles
The average person loves spending time at home with over a third of Brits (33%) spending on average over 2,000 hours at home a year, excluding sleep time.
Outside the home one in three Brits sees friends or family once a week and clothes shops and the pub are also visited at least once every seven days.
Exercise though is not part of that routine – 71% of Brits don’t go to the gym, cycle, jog or swim even once a week.
Grubs up
Mr and Mrs Average settle down for the evening with dinner in front of the television (52%), with Eastenders being the most popular (9%) television programme on Brits’ TV screens.
Then it’s lights out, with the average person’s head hitting the pillow at 11pm.
“With a new form of government in Number 10 and the economic situation still in turmoil it obviously feels as if everything is changing around us,” says David Tyers, director of marketing at Aviva.
“So in some ways it’s comforting to know that over the past decade some things have remained very much the same.
