Have the living standards in U.K. improved since 1970's?

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Have the living standards in U.K. improved since 1970's? Since the 1970's, looking at the main statistics, it clearly seems that living standards in United Kingdom have improved greatly. GDP has risen from 57.5 bn ₤ to 309.9 bn ₤ from 1971 to 2006. Ratio of pupils per teacher in state schools has improved. In 1970 it was 22.60 - 1, in 2006 it was 17.0 - 1. This shows that the educational system is also moving forward. We would think that the standard of living should have improved in all the categories since the 1970's, but that's not the case if we look at certain statistics more closely. If we take a closer look at the education sector, even when there are more teachers available for the students, in 2006, there are simply less pupils in schools compared to 1970, even though the population has increased by almost 5 million people, the number of pupils in schools has decreased 10.20 mln. to 9.90 mln. Even though that's the case, the number of students in higher education has increased from 0.62 mln. in 1970, to 2.49 mln in 2006. So there are more students getting higher education now, than in 1970's, but less pupils in schools then there were in 1970. The average daily number of vehicles on motorways has increased by 47 000 since 1971. This shows that more people can afford motor vehicles and in that sense, their living standards have improved. Also, in 2006, more people could afford housing goods such as washing machines, telephones and televisions than in 1971. When thinking of living standards, sometimes some statistics that affect the society in certain ways are forgotten or not considered enough. For example the number of abortions in U.K. has almost quadrupled from 63 400 abortions per year, to 199 019 abortions per year. Cigarette consumption has decreased from 50 % to 25 %, so it may seem that more people should be getting
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