Londoners – and men – think they are worth more than everybody else
Londoners think they are worth twice as much as everybody else, according to innovative new research.
Pollsters Opinium surveyed 2,000 people across the country for insurance group LifeSearch to find out how much people think their assets are worth, combining this with their average annual salary and the financial value they place on their out-of-work activities such as childcare and DIY.
The figures were then totted up to give an idea of the "average value" people think they are worth.
| UK average | London | Difference | |
| Assets | £215,773 | £463,028 | 115 per cent |
| Salary | £22,468 | £34,042 | 52 per cent |
| Time spent out-of-work | £32,790 | £61,071 | 86 per cent |
| Total | £271,031 | £558,141 | 106 per cent |
City dwellers think they come out top on all three measures – believing the combined value of a year's paid work, a year's non-paid work and their total assets, such as a house and car, comes out at a staggering £558,000.
That was twice the level of the UK average, which came in at £271,000, and nearly five times the value people living in Northern Ireland thought they were worth.
Interestingly, people in every region of the country thought their out-of-work activities were worth more than their jobs, with those in the North East and East of England also assessing their contribution outside at the office as worth more than £40,000 a year.
Men also believed they were worth more than women in every category, including their time spent out of work. Across the UK, men gave themselves an average value of £305,000 – one-third more than women who believe they are worth £231,789. This was despite the fact that the number of stay-at-home mums outnumbers stay-at-home dads by two million to 250,000, LifeSearch noted.
