Britain branded ’sick man’ of the world as most youngsters live on benefits

LONDON - Britain has been branded as the “sick man” of the world after it was revealed in a report that it has more young people on incapacity benefit than any other industrialised country.

According to the report from Paris-based economic development think tank the OECD, four percent of 20 to 34-year-olds are on sickness handouts, which is more than twice the OECD average of 1.5 percent.

The figure is also 13 times the 0.3 percent in Germany - and three times the 1.2 percent in the US, the Sun reported.

The report reveals that seven percent of all working-age Britons are on disability benefits. This is well above the OECD average of 5.7 percent - and nearly twice the level in France.

And 11 percent of UK public spending goes on sickness and disability handouts - while the OECD average is ten percent.

In the 1980s there were up to four times more people on jobless benefits than disability or incapacity handouts.

Now there are hundreds of thousands more people on sickness benefits than jobless. Ministers have unveiled plans to overhaul medical tests to help people get off benefits and back to work.

But employment minister Chris Grayling insisted he will not set any targets for how many he wants off sickness handouts. (ANI)