An image of Britain in bad weather. British people have the worst quality of life in Europe, according to a new report.

British people have the worst quality of life in Europe, according to a report which highlights the long hours, bad weather, low life expectancy¹ and high price of many consumer goods.

In a study of ten of the largest European countries, Britain comes last followed by Ireland, with France and Spain topping the table.

Though British households enjoy the highest income, at £35,730 a year, £10,325 higher than the European average, British families have to contend with a high cost of living, with fuel, food and alcohol all costing more than the European average.

With a litre of unleaded petrol at £1.08 a litre, the UK is the second most expensive country in Europe. However, diesel² is more expensive in the UK than anywhere else in Europe – £1.13 a litre, which is 19p or 20 per cent above the European average of £0.94.

The report by price comparison website uSwitch analyses 10 European countries against 17 different benchmarks, from the price of gas, electricity, fuel, food and drink to the amount each country spends on education, health to working conditions and the weather.

The top three countries are France, Spain and Denmark, with Sweden, Ireland and Britain coming eighth, ninth and tenth respectively.

The study comes less than a week after the United Nations moved Britain out of the top 20 list of most desirable countries to live in for the first time.

While France and Germany were initially³ hit hard by the global financial crisis, both have officially exited their recessions, while Britain has yet to confirm this has happened. Later this week, despite signs of recovery in the housing market and buoyant retail⁴ sales, there is expected to be grim economic news with unemployment predicted to have climbed to above 2.5 million for the first time since 1994.

一项最新报告称，英国是欧洲生活质量最差的国家，这主要表现在该国的工作时间长、天气恶劣、人均寿命短以及消费品价格昂贵。

该研究共对欧洲的十个大国进行了调查，英国排名最后，爱尔兰次之。法国和西班牙被评为生活质量最高的国家。

尽管英国的家庭年均收入最高，达35730英镑，比欧洲平均水平高10325英镑，但英国人的生活成本也很高，燃料、食品和酒类的价格均高于欧洲平均水平。

英国是欧洲第二大生活成本最高的国家，其无铅汽油的价格每升1.08英镑。而且英国的柴油价格居欧洲各国之首，每升1.13英镑，比欧洲平均价格0.94英镑高出19便士（相当于20%）。

价格比较网站uSwitch撰写的这份报告依据17个不同指标对欧洲十个国家进行了分析，其中包括天然气、电、燃料、食品和饮料的价格，各国的教育卫生支出以及工作环境和天气状况。

法国、西班牙和丹麦是生活质量最高的三个国家。瑞典、爱尔兰和英国则分列排行榜最后三位。

这项报告公布前不到一周，联合国首次将英国踢出世界20大宜居国家排行。

尽管法国和德国最初受到全球金融危机的重创，但目前两国已正式摆脱经济衰退，而英国则尚未作出类似表态。尽管英国房地产市场出现回暖信号，零售业业绩看涨，但即将于本周晚些时候公布的经济新闻仍不容乐观。据悉，预计英国的失业人口数量自1994年以来首次超过250万人。

Vocabulary:

life expectancy：人均寿命

contend with: 对付

buoyant：of or relating to a market in which prices have a tendency to move upward（看涨的；保持高价的；繁荣的）