Anxiety and problem debt

Being in problem debt can harm people’s physical and mental health by causing strain and stress, reducing income available for products and services that promote good health, or increasing health-harming coping behaviours. Poor health can also increase the possibility of problem debt, for example when someone loses their job or has a low income. This can create a cycle of problem debt and poor health. 

This chart shows the proportion of people experiencing anxiety (self-reported) both in, and not in, problem debt, who were aged between 16 and 64 in 2018–20. 

On average, working-age people in problem debt had worse anxiety than people not in problem debt. 

• 31% of people in problem debt have medium anxiety and 27% have high anxiety. People in problem debt are almost twice as likely to experience high levels of anxiety as people who are not (14%).  
• 58% of people in problem debt have either medium or high anxiety, compared to 37% of people who are not. 
• It is more common for people who are not in problem debt to experience low or no anxiety (63%) than people who are (42%).

Mental health problems can make it more difficult to access and engage with debt advice. Reasons for this include difficulties communicating, impaired clarity of thought and reduced concentration or ability to solve problems. This might require increased occupational support to ensure a health crisis is less likely to lead to a reduction of income and accumulation of debt.

​​​​​​A household is defined as being in problem debt if it falls into one – or both –  of the following two groups:  

• Liquidity problems:  
  • household debt repayments represent at least 25% of net monthly income, and at least one adult in the household reports falling behind with bills or credit commitments, or 
  • the household is currently in two or more consecutive months’ arrears on bills or credit commitments, and at least one adult in the household reports falling behind with bills or credit commitments. 
• Solvency problems:  
  • household debt represents at least 20% of net annual income and at least one adult considers their debt a heavy burden.  

This analysis uses financial debt, which is the money owed on credit cards, loans and other non-mortgage debt but excludes property debt and council tax. 

• Respondents were asked how anxious they felt the previous day with a 10-point scale ranging from 0 (low) to 10 (high). Low anxiety includes individuals with a self-rated score between 0 and 3, medium anxiety includes individuals with a self-rated score between 4 and 7, and high anxiety includes individuals with a self-rated score between 8 and 10.  

Source: Health Foundation analysis of Office for National Statistics, Wealth and Assets Survey, Great Britain, 2018–20.