What’s living in Guernsey really like?
The Guernsey Community Foundation looks to answer this question as it launches the Quality of Life Report—the first study of its kind, which explores how life is for the people of Guernsey.
>> Download the full Quality of Life Report 2025
The Quality of Life Report is the result of a year-long research project that draws on a wide range of reliable data sources, in-depth interviews with charities, and fresh insights from a community-wide survey.
Marking the Foundation’s 15 year anniversary, the report aims to identify Islanders’ needs—particularly those that often go unseen or unheard.
“The Foundation has always been about improving Islanders’ quality of life,” said the Foundation’s Chair, Sir Richard Collas. “But how does one determine quality of life? This report is our attempt at answering that question. The States and various public bodies periodically publish statistics and surveys, but until now there has never been an attempt to bring all of this information together tell a story about what it’s actually like to live here.”
The project was led by Alex Lemon, the Foundation’s Policy and Research Lead. “We’ve tried to present our findings in quite a relaxed, conversational way,” she said, “When working with a lot of data it’s easy to create something that’s quite dry and clinical. But we want the report to trigger conversations, and that can’t happen unless people actually want to read it.”
A key part of the research was the Living In Guernsey Survey, commissioned from Island Global Research and completed by over 3,000 Islanders. The record level of engagement reflects how much Islanders want to talk about the realities of their lives, and ensures that the report’s findings are broadly representative of the island’s population.
Jim Roberts, the Foundation’s Chief Executive, said:
“Taken as a whole, the report reveals the sheer extent to which your financial situation affects your life – from your happiness to your life expectancy, your stress levels to your sense of belonging. Work–life balance, mental health, loneliness, experience of public services, hope for the future – in Guernsey, virtually everything is tied to your ability to make ends meet.
A couple of other findings jump out. Firstly, a lot of the Island’s young people are hurting. Low self-esteem, bullying, poor mental health, anxiety about the future… they are growing up in an Island that is different to the one that their parents and their grandparents grew up in, and – as with the effects of poverty – the extent to which many of them are struggling does not appear to be fully or widely appreciated.
Secondly, Guernsey is driving Islanders away. As evidenced in particular by individuals’ responses to the Foundation’s survey, concerns about rising living costs and difficulties finding somewhere affordable to live are forcing the Island’s residents, especially young families, to move away, or to plan to move away. Even though they want to stay, they don’t see a future here, and that should concern us all.”
The Foundation hopes the report will help shape public debate in the run-up to the 2025 election and inform its own future grant-giving and research efforts. It also intends to collaborate with local charities to address the issues uncovered in the months ahead.
Read the full Quality of Life Report 2025
Read a summary of the Living in Guernsey Survey 2024 findings here
Also available, is an interactive online report which you can view here
