THEY are two islands that sometimes seem galaxies apart…
But Jersey and Guernsey may have more in common than you think when it comes to the way they view themselves and the issues they face, according to the results of separate surveys carried out in both jurisdictions.
Are crapauds happier than donkeys? Do Islanders and islanders get a fair share of the ‘tax haven’ pie? And, most importantly, which place is sunnier?
These are all questions which the JEP will attempt to answer using responses and figures – admittedly not like-for-like stats – from Statistics Jersey and the recently released Quality of Life report, which was put together by Guernsey Community Foundation, compiling its own survey results with those from other organisations on different aspects of Sarnian life.
Are you not entertained?
Around a third (31%) of adults were “very satisfied” with Jersey as a whole, a fall from 2022, when 41% of adults were very satisfied, according to Statistics Jersey’s most recent Opinions and Lifestyle report, which was published at the end of last year.
Younger people – aged 16 to 34 – were reportedly the least satisfied with the Island, at 19%. We know that teenagers are unsatisfied with life in general, so this may have skewed the responses.
This percentage slowly rose to 45% for over 65s – perhaps due to the benefits of retirement?
Town residents were the least satisfied with their neighbourhood, at 22% in St Helier, while the positively smug parishioners in St Mary, St Ouen and St Peter were loving life, with a 72% satisfaction rating – and who can blame them. Have you ever seen St Ouen’s Bay? And let’s not get started on Devil’s Hole…
In Guernsey, nearly a third of islanders were “living their best lives”.
The source of this figure was the Living in Guernsey survey, with Sarnians asked to score their life satisfaction out of ten.
Just under half of respondents scored at least seven out of ten – not bad – while nearly a third scored eight out of ten or higher, saying they were in “best-possible life” territory.
And things are moving in the right direction – take that, Jersey – as two-thirds believed life today was the same or better than it was five years ago, while 41% believed life would get even better in the next five years.
The foundation put this down to Guernsey residents recognising the good standard of living in the island, that most people enjoyed long lives in good health, that natural surroundings were valued and people were “generally happy” with services and amenities.
The sweeping take-away from all this: residents of these islands are – in general – pretty satisfied with life, and who can blame them with beaches like these.
Wealth and housing
Jersey and Guernsey may be thought of by the outside world as wealthy tax havens lined with super-yachts and hidden mansions, but there is a glaring gap between the “haves” and “have-nots” in both islands, with many residents – not high-value residents, of course – struggling, it seems.
More than a third of households (35%) in Jersey found it difficult to cope financially, according to the Opinions and Lifestyle report, which was up slightly from 31% in 2023.
More households found it “difficult” than “easy” (28%) to cope financially for the first time in almost 15 years.
A key metric of wealth – or lack of – is housing.
Housing figures for Jersey showed that 85% of adults were satisfied with their housing, although this varied wildly depending on if respondents were living in a detached house or a bedsit, surprise surprise – 42% were “very satisfied” with their housing, a decrease from 58% in 2022.
People in Guernsey spoke about the need for lower and/or controlled rents, lower house prices and regulations to set rental standards and improve conditions, as well as secure and stable tenancy agreements. Did Reform Jersey hack the Guernsey survey? Or perhaps people in both islands just want a decent standard of living…
Rental costs – which are astronomical in both islands – were the subject of several comments in Guernsey and were described as “absolutely ridiculous”. One commenter stated that they “overheard an older gentleman complaining that he couldn’t afford a fourth property to add to his rental portfolio”, while they could not afford one. Sounds like it’s time to start a GoFundMe page to help this poor gentlemen out with his property portfolio woes.
Guernsey was described as a “deeply divided island” by one respondent to the Guernsey Community Foundation, with social inequality “ignored by politicians”. Sound familiar?
Sarnian respondents spoke frequently about the need for fair wages – reflecting the cost of living – and a desire for a better work-life balance to enable more personal time.
According to Statistics Jersey, more than two-fifths of working adults in the Island felt they spent too much time working, so it seems they feel the same. All work and no play makes Jersey a dull island.
Health
Both residents face health issues and barriers to accessing healthcare, primarily costs.
The proportion of adults reporting “very good” health in Jersey has decreased – with almost three-quarters of adults describing their health as good or very good, which was similar to 2022.
Guernsey seems to be struggling more than Jersey when it comes to preventable deaths.
The rate of avoidable deaths was 185 per 100,000 in Guernsey compared to 146 in Jersey, which was “mainly because Jersey is better at preventing deaths among its population”, Guernsey Community Foundation said.
Alcohol- and drug-related deaths, and those from neoplasms (tumours), were 45% and 75% higher in Guernsey respectively.
“Precisely why fewer people appear to die avoidable deaths in Jersey than in Guernsey is not clear and does not appear to have been looked into,” the Guernsey report stated. Maybe it’s time someone did?
The need for affordable access to medical care, including GPs and dentists, was one of the frequent responses to the Guernsey survey.
One comment described free essential healthcare as a “must” rather than a “choice”.
Summing things up, the Guernsey report stated: “Received wisdom suggests that, unlike the UK, it’s easy to get a GP appointment in Guernsey and that we don’t have queues for A&E. While this may be the case, data suggests that the true demand for local healthcare services is masked because people who can’t afford them tend to avoid or postpone using them.
“Almost half of Islanders (48%) who responded to 2022’s Primary Care Survey by patient group CareWatch said that, in the 12 months prior to the survey, cost had stopped or delayed them using primary health services (eg GP, emergency department, physiotherapy).
“Thirty-nine per cent said cost affected them seeing a GP, but only 4% said it had stopped or delayed them seeing a GP for their child’s health.”
Some barriers to accessing healthcare have been removed in Jersey recently, with a new scheme offering free GP visits for full-time students launching last year along with the cost of GP appointments reducing by £10. And this year, a Jersey GP surgery became the first in the Island to offer free appointments on a permanent basis.
Drinking
Men – of all ages – were more likely to drink than women in Guernsey and displayed higher levels of alcohol dependence, and hazardous or harmful drinking.
More than 40% of Sarnians drank at least twice a week, while just under a fifth drank at least four times a week, according to a wellbeing survey.
Of those who did drink alcohol, 35% drank above the recommended limit of 14 units a week.
One -in-five adults in Jersey drank more than the recommended weekly limit.
Men in Jersey were more likely to drink to excess than women, with a third drinking at potentially harmful or hazardous levels compared to 17% of women.
Bon voyage
The so-called “bean drain” and its associated demographic issues – as younger Islanders up sticks and do not return, leaving an ageing demographic and increasingly unstable ratio of taxpayers to non-taxpayers – is a problem which is not going away anytime soon.
Statistics Jersey’s Children and Young People’s Survey revealed this year that almost half of Year 10 and 12 students did not consider Jersey a viable place to build a life and career, with over a third of sixth-form students planning to go to university but not return.
The findings showed that more affluent students were more likely to see a future in the Island, perhaps with the Bank of Mum and Dad to rely on, while only a quarter of young Islanders from lower-income households felt the same way.
“I love Guernsey; this is my home. But if I had the opportunity to leave for a better life, I would.”
In Guernsey, younger people struggle financially – more so than older Sarnians, according to the Guernsey Community Foundation. They also feel less satisfied about housing, “not least because they tend to be spending a lot on rent (or still living at home)” – remind you of anywhere else?
And younger Sarnians are said to feel disconnected from the community. Those under 40 were the least likely to say they liked living in Guernsey.
And unless things change, the report said, Sarnians were planning to leave Guernsey or had started to think about doing so.
“I love Guernsey; this is my home. But if I had the opportunity to leave for a better life, I would,” one respondent said.
Sunshine
It is not all doom and gloom though… Jersey readers will happy to hear that the Island comfortably held on to its title as the “sunniest place in the British Isles” last year, according to figures from Jersey Met and their UK weather boffin counterparts.
Jersey had almost 330 more hours of sunshine than second-placed Preston, in Dorset, let alone Guernsey.
Guernsey – usually a close second on the sun scale – was 100 hours behind the 30-year average and seven hours behind Preston.
And if you are still interested in what life is like in Guernsey, why not hop over? We now have four inter-island ferry operators, so there are no excuses anymore…
