The latest research by UK charity Equality Trust has revealed that the United Kingdom throws more money than any other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) country on financing structural inequality in favor of the wealthy.

In the report called 'Cost of Inequality', £106.2 billion ($133.8 billion) is spent by the UK annually to subsidize income, wealth, and power inequities as opposed to the average OECD nation. Among the top five most equal countries, inequality in the UK costs £128.4 billion ($161.8 billion) annually in damage to the economy, communities, and individuals.

Priya Sahni-Nicholas, the co-executive director of the trust, stated, "Inequality has made the UK more unhealthy, unhappy, and unsafe than our more equal peers," adding, "It is also causing huge damage to our economy: We have shorter healthy working lives, poorer education systems, more crime, and less happy societies."

The study further shows that 1% of Brits are the most protected top 1% group in Europe, as they pay lower taxes than the rich in any European country.

Read more: Young Brits seek opportunities elsewhere: Survey

Second poor to the US

According to researchers, this equates to more than just the economy. This represents the divisive culture that contributes to making social mobility impossible.

Sahni-Nicholas claimed that “The mere accident of being born outside the 1% will have a dramatic impact on the rest of your life: It will reduce your life expectancy, as well as educational and work prospects, and affects your mental health. The cost of the super-rich is just too high for the rest of us”. 

Back in the 1970s, the UK was considered one of the most equal among rich countries but today, it is the second most unequal right after the US. The average American is 39% richer and 38% more productive than the average Brit. Meanwhile, housing is also cheaper in the US, and the same goes for energy even before the war in Ukraine. 

The report outlines that being over-dependent on financial systems that generate massive profits, and wealth accumulation has carved out the UK infrastructure, called for enormous regional disparities, and left the UK vulnerable to economic shocks and recessions.

Last month, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) charity in the UK around 2 million households have reached a point where they are turning their fridges off to save money amid a “frightening” level of hardship for the first time since May.

It stated that four out of five households on universal credit were going without food, turning off heat, not replacing worn-out clothing, and resorting to “desperate measures”.

Its latest cost of living crisis tracker survey revealed that back in October, around 2.8 million UK low-income households accumulated debt to pay for food, while a third sold belongings for cash, and one in six used community “warm rooms”.