With the New Year on the horizon, YouGov explores how Britons got on with the resolutions they made for 2020, and how many plan on making new ones for the coming year. With the last days of 2021 upon us, many Britons will be looking ahead at what they want to achieve in 2022. Overall, 12% of Britons made New Year’s resolutions for 2020, although this is fewer than half of the 27% who said they were planning on doing so when we asked in December 2019. Resolutions proved most popular among the young; nearly a quarter (24%) of those aged 18-24 made a resolution compared to just 6% of the 65+ age group. However, with 2020 being the way it was, how many made good on their promises to themselves? Of those who made resolutions, only a quarter kept all of them (26%), although half managed to keep some of them (48%). Around a quarter failed entirely (23%). For some, a New Year’s resolution is a far overused cliché, but for others, it’s a solemn promise to be taken very seriously. This year, some 16% of Britons say they will make a New Year’s resolution – compared to 11% who say they made a resolution this time last year. The young are by far the most likely to be setting themselves a New Year’s resolution, with nearly a third (32%) of those aged between 18 and 24 doing so compared to 10% of those aged 55 and over. For the third year in a row, health and fitness come top of the list of Britons’ resolutions they plan on making, with the most popular among those making resolutions being to do more exercise or improve their fitness (49%). Another 41% say they want to commit to improving their diet, and 40% want to lose weight – including 34% of men and 44% of women. A similar proportion of people (39%) say they want to try and put more money into their savings next year, while around half as many want to pursue a career ambition (19%) – with men (23%) more likely to attempt to than women (16%). A further 16% say they will try and spend less time on social media, and 15% want to take up a new hobby or cut down on their drinking. One of the clichés of New Year’s resolutions is that people end up breaking their promises to themselves anyway – but this is true? Looking back on the year, how many people who made a commitment this time in 2020 claim to have stuck by them? Three in ten (31%) of those who made New Year resolutions for 2021 claim to have kept all their resolutions – with men more likely to say they kept all their resolutions (38%) than women (26%). Another 44% of people say they kept at least some of their resolutions for 2021. Nearly one in five (19%) own up and say they did not keep any of the resolutions they made for this year, including 22% of women and 15% of men.
What New Year’s Resolutions are people making?
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