Generational and regional differences across Great Britain

The Economic Wellbeing Explorer (EWE) has now been refreshed with data up to 25th January 2026. Drawing on de-identified banking data from 5 million GB banking customers, the Explorer sheds light on national, regional and local patterns in economic wellbeing through three key indicators: 

• Overdrawn accounts: the proportion of people who become overdrawn on 2+ occasions in a month 
• Living beyond means (LBM): spending 120% or more of monthly income 
• Low emergency resilience (LER): account balances falling below £100 on 2+ occasions in a month 

The number of people living beyond their means and those with low emergency resilience have both slightly increased between December 2025 and January 2026 across Great Britain. There has however been a slight decrease in overdrawn accounts this month with Scottish account holders dropping to 15.3%, English to 16.1% and Welsh to 17.7%.

A snapshot across the nations shows similar levels across regions with the most variability within low emergency resilience: 

• 10.1% of people in Scotland are spending 120% or more of their income – an increase from 9.9%
• 11.1% of people in England are spending 120% or more of their income – an increase from 10.4%
• 10.3% of people in Wales are spending 120% or more of their income – an increase from 9.67%

The numbers tell one story but context is important to it. 

Younger account holders generally face more financial stress, particularly low emergency resilience and overdrawn accounts, while older groups experience these less often.

For example, account holders who are 70 or older across Great Britain have the highest rates of living beyond their means, spending 120% of their income. This rate could be an area for concern if we didn’t have the additional context of their low overdrawn accounts and emergency resilience rates (both significantly lower than any other age group).

These figures alongside the knowledge that that people of retirement age and older are more likely to have low to no income but extensive savings means that their higher rate of LBM is likely to be less of an area of concern.

See more about the economic wellbeing of young people in Scotland through our recent article in The Scotsman, and explore the Economic Wellbeing Explorer yourself.