It is dangerous to generalise about the DIY market across so many different countries. At present almost all share the problems of coping with the deepest recession since the war.

Other problems shared by many include:

• The population is ageing. Older people are less inclined to do DIY and more inclined to pay others to do it for them.

• In some countries there is a fall off in interest in the home and in doing DIY.

• The boom saw a general increase in paying others to do DIY work, particularly in the more developed economies. The recession has reversed that trend, but probably only temporarily.

This report series covers the 19 leading economies of Western Europe. In total these countries account for around 98% of all European retail sales, excluding Russia. The remaining countries are either too small (eg Luxembourg) or are not sufficiently well developed to warrant detailed coverage (eg Romania and Bulgaria). These developing countries plus Russia and Turkey are covered in the Mintel report on Emerging Markets, 2009.