* Per capita means ‘per head’ e.g. income per capita means income per person.
From these figures you can already see that the United Kingdom has then lower population but still has a higher total national income and income per capita. This shows to me that Britain has more jobs that are bringing in income to the economy than that of France. This could be one factor that would bring Britain’s standard of living up, higher than France’s.
This data is so far, proving my hypothesis to be correct.
Unemployment rates are the how many people are unemployed. By being unemployed you are able and willing to work but unable to find jobs. This leads to a potential loss of output. Unemployment has been consistently rising since the early 1980’s.
Unemployment rates will show me how much of each countries population as a percentage is unemployed.
From these figures you can see that the UK’s unemployment rates are nearly half of that of France. This shows to me that France has an unemployment problem as it has a slightly larger population but a very high unemployment rate compared to that of the UK.
From the graph you can now see how much more unemployment there is in France compared to Britain. It shows that Britain has more work to offer its population and therefore give them a better standard of living.
Once again this data is helping me to prove that my hypothesis is right, but could change throughout the rest of the coursework,
Taxation is the raising of finance for government expenditure through the use of direct and indirect taxes.
Direct taxes meaning taxes on income, profits or wealth.
Indirect taxes meaning taxes on expenditure.
Government expenditure is the sum of spending by both local and national governments.
*GDP or gross domestic product is the value of everything produced in the economy for the year.
From these figures you can see that the UK has to pay 7.9% less in taxes than the French. This value shows to me that the UK are better off in these terms as they are paying less taxes on the products made in that economy in that year.
Once again the graph allows you to visualise the difference in the two countries. It shows that France as a whole is paying more tax on the products that is made in their economy. This once again shows how their standard of livings may be lower as they are spending more on taxes towards the government. But it could also be seen as a good thing, as the government is getting more money they could spend more into the French economy. E.g. on education or health.
From these figures you can see that France spends more of its money on education than the UK do. This could also help in giving France a better standard of living as the education will give more opportunity for more people to get jobs and earn an income.
This graph makes it easier to visualise how much more the French are spending on educating their people. This will help to give France a better standard of living as more educated people will enter the economy and earn their incomes.
Birth rates are the number of live births occurring a year per 1000 population. Low birth rates in a developed country are leading to an ageing population. High birth rates in less developed countries are making in difficult to increase income per capita.
From these figures you can see that France had a higher birth rate that the UK. This is right as France does have the higher population. Even though, this also could show that the UK are better off as less people are being born in to the country and putting more pressure on the economy.
This pie chart shows the birth rate of the two countries over a population of 1000 people. As you can see France have the higher birth rate compared to the UK. This could be a good thing to the country or a bad thing. The more births will lead to more people to enter the economy as workers and raise the income of the country. Or it could bring pressure on to the economy as it may not be able handle the high population.
Death rates are the number of people dying per 1000 population.
From these figures you can see that Britain has the higher amount of people dying compared to France. This would be one factor that could raise France’s standard of living as more people are living to an older age.
From the graph you can see how the death rate differs in each country. The UK has the higher death rate showing more people are dying compared to France. This could bring down the living standards in the UK as the death rates are high and people are afraid that they might be part of these statistics.
These five points are a handful of points that can determine the standard of living in each country. So far Britain is looking to have the better standard of living by looking at al the data collected so far.
Quality of life
Holidays the amount of free time away from work you spend.
Here you can see a considerable difference of how much holiday the two countries get. French workers get 96 more days than the British do. This means they can spend more time with there families and more time away form work, whereas the British are mainly at work and away from their families.
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This graph shows just how much more holiday the French get. This is a very important factor in their quality of life. As more time off means more spending time with the family away from work.
Hours worked the amount of hours worked over a period of time,
Here you can see that English workers work longer than the French. This means the French will have more time to live their own lives away from work there having a better quality if life as they will be able to spend more time with their families.
Here you can see how much more hours are worked in the UK than in France. This will make the French quality of life a little bit better than that of the British.
Crime rates are the rates of which crime is progressing. If an area has a high crime rate it is likely to have a low quality of life, whereas if it had a low crime rate it would have a high quality of life.
This shows how badly the crime rate in the UK is. It is nearly double of what it is in France. This shows a bad quality of life. As more people in the UK are more likely to get burgled than in France.
The graph makes it easier to see just how bad the crime rate in the UK is, compared to that of France. This is where the French will have a better quality of life as they will be worrying less about burglaries to their homes.
Here you can see how many people are prosecuted for the crime they commit. The UK has a high prosecution rate compared to that of France. This could be because the UK legal system is better than that or the fact that there are more people to prosecute as they are more people committing the crimes.
Here you can see just how many people are actually prosecuted for the crime they committed. England has the much higher prosecution rate either because of a better legal system or because they are more criminals to prosecute compared to France.
Life expectancy is the number of years that a person can expect to live. This is usually calculated for each country. There have been big increases in life expectancy in a number of developing countries.
Here you can see that the UK has a lower life expectancy than that of France. This tells me that the French have an ageing population and this could also be putting pressure on the government because they will need to find the finance to pay out the pensions.
Here you can see how the life expectancy differs. Even though the French live longer, they are putting pressure upon the economy to pay out their pensions. This could therefore lead to a small shortage of government funds for other things.
To conclude this coursework, I can say that I have mixed results, but overall my hypothesis of “the British are better of than the French” was correct. From what information I have found, they tell me that the British are better off than the French in many of the things listed above. There are a few areas where the French beat the British at.
By looking at the standard of living of the two countries, they are very much alike but the British slightly beat the French. By looking at:
- National income
- Unemployment rates
- Taxation and government spending
- Birth rates
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Death rates
We can see how the two countries differ or how they are the same. These points are some of what make the country’s standard of living.
By looking at quality of life, we can see how each country lives whether to the best or not.
These points are some of what makes a countries quality of life:
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Holidays
- Hours worked
- Crime rates
- Life expectancy
We can see from these, how each country lives to its best and takes its populations interest in to account.
So from this coursework I can fairly say that the UK is better off than France. All the evidence above is what has proved my hypothesis right.