Top Ten: Still Costing the Country

A couple of years back, I listed some recent reports and studies on how much the British economy is losing as a result of specific failures.
The problem clearly hasn't gone away, as the following show:

1. Obesity costs Britain £5 billion a year - link

2. Cyber crime costs Britain £27 billion a year - link

3. Child poverty also costs Britain £27 billion a year - link

4. Violent crime costs Britain 'almost £30 billion' a year - link

5. Migrants claiming benefits for children living abroad cost Britain £30 million a year - link

6. Poor language skills cost Britain £50 billion a year - link

7. Family breakdowns also cost Britain £50 billion a year - link

8. Bovine tuberculosis costs Britain £100 million a year - link

9. The erosion of organic matter in soil costs Britain 'more than £120 million a year' - link

10. Mental health issues cost Britain £70 billion a year - link

This is a random collection of recent stories, and I stopped after the first ten, so it's hard to know how far the problem extends. But that list alone would add around £250 billion to the UK economy. It's extraordinary to think how rich we could all be, if only we made the effort.

Just to be clear about these stories. Here's one I saved up to illustrate why we need to take them so very seriously. A report published last month revealed that small and medium-sized business in Britain are losing £2.5 billion a year by dealing in cash. The equivalent of two weeks a year is wasted counting cash and taking it to the local bank. This research was 'commissioned by online payment provider PayPal'. All credit to PayPal. If they hadn't so unselfishly taken the trouble to enlighten us, we'd never have known.