§ Mr. Welshasked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will produce a table showing the percentages of gross national product spent on housing in the United Kingdom and each of the OECD countries.
§ Mr. CroslandThe following table sets out the readily available information. It is not possible to make meaningful comparisons, however, because, apart from important differences in definition, there can be wide differences between countries in respect of the quality of housing stock and the imbalance between the quality of housing available and the number of households requiring accommodation.
GROSS FIXED CAPITAL FORMATION IN DWELLINGS AS A PERCENTAGE OF GNP Australia … 5.3 (1972–73) Austria … Not available Belgium … 4.7 (1972) Canada … 5.5 (1974) Denmark … 5.0 (1970) Finland … 7.1 (1973) France … 6.7 (1973) Germany, Federal Republic … 6.5 (1972) Greece … 7.6 (1972) Iceland … 6.2 (1972) Ireland … 5.0 (1972) Italy … 6.2 (1973) Japan … 8.8 (1973) Luxembourg … Not available Netherlands … 6.3 (1973) Norway … 5.3 (1972) Portugal … 2.9 (1972) Spain … 3.2 (1972) Sweden … 4.8 (1972) Switzerland … 6.5 (1969) Turkey … Not available U.S.A. … 4.6 (1972) United Kingdom … 4.7 (1973–74)