From watching the lights turn on in your local town centre to tucking into a roast dinner, there’s nothing quite like Christmas in the UK. We’ve surveyed Brits to find out how much Christmas spending will impact their bank accounts this year.
Christmas statistics: UK highlights
Brits are expected to spend an average of £596 each on Christmas gifts in 2024.
The UK plans to spend £28.6 billion on Christmas gifts in 2024, up from £27.6 billion in 2023
Over the Christmas period, Brits are projected to spend an impressive £46.4 billion in total, including gifts, food, travel and socialising. That’s £923 per person!
An estimated 48 million adults in the UK plan to buy Christmas gifts in 2024.
Millenials are planning to fork out the most on Christmas gifts this year, with an average spend of £871 each.
London residents are planning to spend more on gifts than any other region, with an average spend of £936 per person.
What is the average spend on Christmas presents in the UK?
The average person in the UK plans to spend £596 on Christmas presents in 2024, according to Finder research. 9 in 10 Brits (90%) plan to buy Christmas gifts for their loved ones, while the remaining 10% either don’t celebrate or plan not to spend money on presents.
In 2022, the average spend per person dropped from £548 to £430 amidst the cost of living crisis. However, spending has remained high both this year and last year, showing that splurging on presents at Christmas time is still important for Brits.
Year
Planned average spend on gifts
2024
£596
2023
£602
2022
£430
2021
£548
2020
£476
2019
£513
The UK as a whole plans to spend £28.6 billion on Christmas gifts in 2024, up from a planned spend of £27.6 billion in 2023, an increase of £1 billion (4%). After dropping in 2022 during the cost of living crisis, projected Christmas spending has now increased for 2 years in a row.
Overall, it’s projected that Brits will spend £46.4 billion during the Christmas period, including gifts, food, travel and more. This means an average spend of £923 per person!
Christmas spending by generation: key statistics
Millennials (aged 28-43) are planning to go all out with gifts this Christmas, with an average spend of £871 each. The silent generation (age 79+) is also planning to be generous this year – with a planned average spend of £825 each.
Generation Z (aged 18-27) are planning to spend slightly less at £605 each, while generation X (aged 44-59) intend on being more frugal and spending £487.
At the bottom of the list, baby boomers (aged 60-78) are trying to save on gift-giving this Christmas, with an average spend of just £371 each.
People in London are planning to spend the most of all UK regions in 2024, with an estimated average of £936 per person. They are followed by people in Northern Ireland, who are planning to spend around £850 per person, and people in Wales, who are planning to spend £740 per person.
Meanwhile, residents in the East Midlands are hoping to be a bit more restrained with their gift-giving, with an average planned spend of £396 per person, £200 less than the national average.
Finder commissioned Censuswide to carry out a nationally representative survey of adults aged 18+. A total of 2,000 people were questioned throughout Great Britain between 8 November and 11 November 2024, with representative quotas for gender, age and region.
Liz Edwards has been a consumer writer and editor for more than 20 years. She led award-winning teams at the campaigning publisher Which?, and has covered a range of consumer rights and personal finance topics including pensions, credit, banking and insurance. Liz has appeared frequently in national media such as The Sun, Metro, HuffPost and The Independent. She loves to cut through waffle to give consumers the real lowdown. And she loves puns. See full bio
Liz's expertise
Liz has written 90 Finder guides across topics including:
Sophie Barber is a senior content marketing manager for Finder in the UK. She has over 5 years experience in writing and publishing clear, concise and informative articles that help consumers make informed decisions. See full bio
Sophie's expertise
Sophie has written 97 Finder guides across topics including:
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