How much do we really spend on welfare?


Steve asked me to make President Reagan’s 1964 Time for Choosing speech applicable for the UK in 2010. In the speech, Reagan posits that if the US were to give their total welfare budget of $45bn to those below the poverty line this would work out at $4,600 per person. Factoring for inflation this would now stand at $32,413 for each person in 2010.

If you were to do this with the UK:

£113bn is spent on benefits in the UK.

Amount of people below the poverty line is 8.5m.

This equals £13,321 spent on each person below the poverty line.

Across the total population of 61m this works out as £1,852 per person in the UK.

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