New YouGov research shows Britons are much less likely than Americans to think that life is fair

A belief in fairness and fair play is one of those quintessentially British attributes, like the stiff upper lip or talking about the weather.

It is will disappoint many to see, then, that so few Brits actually believe that life is fair. New research from YouGov shows that just 25% of Brits say that life is fair, compared to 59% who think it is not. A further 16% don’t know.

The result stands in stark contrast to the attitudes of our American cousins, who are much more likely to think that life is fair. Nearly four in ten (38%) believe it is, although more (46%) still think life is unfair.

Conservative voters are the most likely to say they think life is fair at 35%, shortly followed Liberal Democrat voters and people aged 65+ (34%). By contrast, Scots and Labour voters are the most likely to say life is unfair at 63% each, with UKIP voters, Londoners and working class people not far behind on 61%.

However, Britons are more likely to think that life should be fair than people in the US. More than seven in ten (71%) of us say that life should be fair, compared to just over six in ten (63%) of those on the other side of the Atlantic.

Photo: iStockphoto

See the full results here (UK)

See the full results here (USA)