I think the Uk has beaten any country in terms of anti-depressants sales.
Our economic situation is so bad.
The UK economy does seem to be in a pretty bad place. However, some people may be so wealthy that they are relatively insulated from it, and it may have a worse impact in some regions of the nation than others. I've heard someone assert previously that the majority of the UK would resemble some of the poorest US states if it weren't for the city of London. In summary, the wealthiest members of society have accumulated wealth at the expense of everything else, leaving the majority of people in a precarious financial situation. Thus, if you have the money, London—the nation's principal financial hub—is fine, but the rest of the nation is not doing so well. Brexit-related damage is also present, but it has nearly lost significance in light of the disruption caused by the COVID pandemic, the more than ten years of austerity, the privatization of major utilities (such as gas, electric, and water), rail services, etc.
I live in Lincolnshire (a county in the midlands along the North sea coast) but have occasionally visited my ex-girlfriend, now living in Canterbury. The thing that haunts me about the visits to Canterbury is the homelessness. I found it really difficult to keep walking past people, sitting on the side of the street, camped out in tents or lying asleep in sleeping bags and not being able to do anything about it, especially as I was visiting during a cold spell in winter.
My ex-girlfriend is currently working in the NHS cleaning toilets, regularly commenting about how much of the older buildings are falling down, with rain water coming indoors, etc. Despite the fact she's cleaning toilets, she had to buy her own bleach because there is no money, only for the bleach to be stolen by someone else within a day. She's a student in her third year and I've got into the habit of sending her money to help her make ends meet when she's running out of food because her wages aren't always enough to live on in addition to rent. (We have a good relationship and she pays me back as she's trying to manage between paychecks).
Her second boyfriend (the one who came after me essentially), lived in London and I visited them there two or three times. He got drunk one night and admitted he was heading towards a six figure salary working in corporate law with a promotion later in the year, and then seeing my expression, turned to me, laughing and said "You think that's alot of money, don't you?". I can't explain it having lived in a deeply rural area, but the cost of rent, gas, electricity, (water I guess?), public transport, etc must have eaten up a huge amount of his salary. They chose to use the bus because it was cheaper than using the tube/London underground. I could see him and my ex-girlfriend together and it did feel like they were living almost hand to mouth, with most of the cupboards being bare, skipping meals to keep costs down and only buying food when needed.
One of my other friends, who lives a few miles down the road, sold his car and opted to go without it in order to save money. I think that's a bit extreme but the cost of petrol and car insurance adds up.
As for myself, a number of factors are at work (especially with poor mental health acting as a disability preventing me from getting a job). But spending cuts have reduced the availability and reliability of local bus services. I have deliberately NOT applied for benefits, as I keep reading horror stories about how people with mental health issues or disabilities are told they are "fit for work" when it's not even possible. [E.g. Cutting someone's disability benefits when they've lost both legs.] As a side note, after my friend sold his car, he got a totally bogus claim from the Job centre asking him to pay something like £5,000 for benefits he didn't claim. He was able to use the citizen's advice bureau to get the Job centre to admit the mistake, but we were joking about whether I should visit him in prison for a bit when he'd come round to visit and play some games of monopoly. So picking up the "Go to Jail" card from the chance cards on the monopoly board had a dark ironic twist to it.
So I'm relying on my parents who are in a comfortable position, but only because they have saved all they can for most of their lives. We're still feeling the cost of living as food prices go up. Energy prices keep going up too, etc. We spend a fair amount of winter with the heating turned off, relying on a coal fireplace in the living room to stay warm and keep the heating bills down. At this point energy and water companies are cash machines for their shareholders, putting up prices on customers and refusing to invest in improving the national infrastructure or improve services. The same also applies for Trains but there aren't many railway stations near me for them to use them outside once or twice a year.
Basically, there are major problems with poverty, affecting people's ability to buy food, to turn the central heating on during winter, etc. Austerity has also led to near bankruptcy for local governments (1 in 4 in England need a bailout from the central government), with school and hospital buildings falling down. Many of these problems affecting people are happening behind closed doors in the privacy of people's homes, but occasionally you get some news headlines showing how bad things are, only for little or nothing to be (visibly) done about it. It is true you can have good times here, but it is often battling this 'background noise' of rising living costs, the cost of rent and housing, failing public services and utilities, etc, if you are in a position to keep going.