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With the cost of living constantly being on the rise and gas prices skyrocketing, paying for the energy we use has become increasingly challenging. A new study has revealed that households in Nigeria spend 67.70% of monthly income on utilities!    
A new study carried out by Utility Bidder delved into the data and analysed the monthly prices of water and gas, electricity broadband and mobile data around the world, to find in which countries people end up spending the highest proportion of their income on energy bills.
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Pakistan ranked first with households spending a whopping 82.9% of their income in utility bills, the majority of which is spent on gas and water. In Nigeria, the country that came in second in the ranking, citizens pay more than half of their monthly wages purely for internet access. The Philippines came in third.
Top 10 countries spending the most of their monthly income on utilities:

Rank

Country

Gas and Water as % of income

Electricity as % of income

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Broadband as % of income

1 GB of Mobile Data as % of income

% of total income spent on utilities

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1

Pakistan

61.00%

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1.90%

19.30%

0.65%

82.90%

2

Nigeria

13.30%

0.40%

53.00%

0.83%

67.70%

3

Philippines

38.90%

3.30%

18.80%

0.50%

61.50%

4

Bangladesh

26.80%

1.00%

18.50%

0.41%

46.80%

5

South Africa

22.20%

11.50%

12.00%

0.86%

46.60%

6

Ukraine

35.00%

5.80%

2.20%

0.16%

43.10%

7

Vietnam

30.20%

4.50%

5.10%

0.26%

40.00%

8

El Salvador

20.00%

5.00%

12.50%

0.48%

38.10%

9

Bolivia

13.90%

2.80%

17.30%

1.92%

36.00%

10

India

23.80%

3.20%

8.50%

0.05%

35.60%
The study also looked at countries where people spend the least amount of their monthly wages in utilities. 
The country with the lowest household expenditure on utilities is Switzerland, this comes as no surprise as the alpine country has the highest monthly income on the study’s list, of £5,069. In second place, Singapore also has one of the highest incomes on the list of £3,370 per month, resulting in utility bills only adding up to 6.3% of this total. Next up, utility bills in Ireland take 6.5% of the average monthly income.
Top 10 countries spending the lowest portion of their monthly income on utilities:

Rank

Country

Gas and Water as % of income

Electricity as % of income

Broadband as % of income

1 GB of Mobile Data as % of income

% of total income spent on utilities

1

Switzerland

3.10%

2.00%

1.00%

0.12%

6.20%

2

Singapore

2.60%

2.90%

0.70%

0.05%

6.30%

3

Ireland

3.20%

2.40%

0.90%

0.02%

6.50%

4

Denmark

3.50%

3.10%

1.00%

0.02%

7.70%

5

Sweden

1.90%

4.70%

1.10%

0.05%

7.80%

6

Netherlands

4.50%

2.50%

1.20%

0.07%

8.30%

7

Norway

3.00%

4.20%

1.20%

0.08%

8.60%

8

Australia

3.40%

4.30%

1.30%

0.02%

9.00%

9

Finland

3.00%

5.50%

1.10%

0.05%

9.60%

10

France

5.20%

3.70%

1.00%

0.02%

9.90%
Experts at Utility Bidder have also provided some tips on how to save money on your energy bills:

  • The easiest way to start saving on your bills is to turn off your appliances when you’re not using them – even in standby mode, in fact, appliances still use electricity. 

  • Turning your lights off every time you leave a room could save you up to £20 a year, according to Utility Bidder. 

  • Dialling down the temperature on your washing machine to 30ºC could save you up to £28 a year, and reducing the number of washing cycles to one a week could knock another £8 off your bill!

  • Opting for drying your clothes on clothes racks or outside in the sun could save you up to £55 a year!

  • Last but not least, turning down your thermostat by only 1ºC can reduce your heating bill by around £80!

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