During the three years I lived in Belfast, I have seen my salary go from 12.5K to 18K, that was a decade ago in the pretty much cheapest part of the UK. That 18K yearly wage would have barely allowed me to save up for a deposit on an apartment at 60K. Since then prices have at least doubled, however salaries haven't, as you clearly illustrated. If the national average is in the 30 thousands, imagine the poverty everywhere else. And this is why I am comparing the UK to developing and 3rd world countries even - because for someone starting out in life it's just as hopeless. When you add the fact that the UK does not consider itself - and rightly so - a developing country, the expectations are even higher and therefore the struggle even bigger. Perhaps this helps in seeing where I'm coming from. Now, don't get me wrong, this is no criticism toward the UK alone. Ireland's average wage of 44K is nothing to write home about either, and if you live in one of the major cities, it's just barely more than one needs to live a decent life, though far from enough to get on the property ladder. I thank God every single day for being a Scrooge and saving aggressively to get on that ladder 5 years ago. While I am blessed enough to have still been able to afford that today, millions of people aren't, and my situation regardless of it being based purely on hard hard work, is not exactly replicable. That is the problem worldwide. Developing countries are evolving, while 1st world countries seem to devolve and suddenly you find there's very little difference. Romania's projected median wage for 2023 is (in GBP) 1200 pounds a month. That's exactly the same amount as I was getting in Belfast 10 years ago as a junior software engineer. The difference? Services and housing is a cheaper, so as it stands Romania's average wage currently is nearly equivalent in purchasing power to that of the UK's. I'd love to say that's a Romanian success story. It's not. OK, maybe a minor success, but it's a whole lot more a disaster story for the UK. The reason why still people go to the UK from countries like Romania, is because both sides of the story discount those that fall below the average wage, where things get really rough. So, they're happy to share an apartment with 7 other people, only to be able to send half their wages back to Romania. Agh... it's a very complex story. We could go on and on about it this, and not solve anything. 🙂