How many Britons say they celebrate Christmas?
No other holiday comes close to Christmas in the UK, with previous YouGov research showing it is the nation’s favourite festival.
YouGov’s Big Survey on Christmas finds that 89% of Britons say they celebrate the occasion.
Older men prove slightly less likely to say that they celebrate Christmas than other groups. While 91-93% of all age groups of women say they celebrate Christmas, as well as 89-91% of under-50 age groups of men, 85% of 50-64 year old men and 82% of men over 65 say they celebrate the season.
While a minority say they don’t celebrate, this doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t partake in the festivities at all. For instance, 35% of self-described non-celebrators are buying Christmas presents for someone, and only half (48%) are giving a roast dinner on Christmas Day a miss.
How many Britons like and dislike Christmas?
Around three quarters of Britons say they like (39%) or love (34%) Christmas. But not everybody fully feels the festive cheer, with 17% of Britons saying they neither like nor dislike Christmas, while a further 9% dislike or even hate the holiday.
These latter views are concentrated among those who say they don’t celebrate Christmas, but even then, just 39% feel negatively about the season.
Christmas is seen particularly positively by younger Britons, with nearly half of 18-34 year olds (45%) saying they outright love Christmas, compared to just 28% of 50-64 year olds and 26% of over 65s.
Women are also more likely to love Christmas, with 40% doing so, relative to 28% of men.
How does Christmas make Britons feel?
Ultimately, despite the few scrooges, most Britons do have a merry Christmas, with 59% saying they typically feel happy over the festive period.
Half (49%) experience feelings of nostalgia over the holiday, while four in ten describe themselves as usually feeling joyful (41%) or relaxed (39%) during the season of goodwill. Christmas brings out the full range of positive emotions, with equal numbers (36%) describing themselves as excited or content.
Of course, given all the hard work that needs to be put into Christmas, it should be no surprise that 25% of Britons say they feel stressed over the festive period, with this rising to 30% of women, relative to 20% of men.
And it’s not all festive cheer, with one in six (16-18%) saying Christmas typically makes them feel sad or anxious, while 11% of Britons are bored by the holiday.
One in ten Britons (10%) describe typically finding the holiday season lonely. Unsurprisingly, this is much higher (35%) among those who spend Christmas Day alone, 29% of whom also describe themselves as typically feeling sad over the holiday, double the 15% who have a happy solitary Christmas.
Do Britons think Christmas has become commercialised?
There are some who’ve come to see modern Christmas as too commercialised, with people relentlessly pressured to buy stuff by shops and greetings card companies.
Nonetheless, most Britons don’t share this view: 72% believe Christmas is a ‘proper’ special occasion that people would celebrate regardless of any pressure from commercial entities. Just 21% see the holiday as a ‘commercial’ special occasion that people are coerced into celebrating.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the latter view is disproportionately found among those who say they don’t celebrate Christmas, 64% of whom see it as being primarily ‘commercial’ in nature, compared to just 16% of those who still see it as a ‘proper’ special occasion.
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