> PhD in the UK is a different level of poverty compared with PhDs in any other “Western” country.

I disagree. I did my PhD in the UK, I did a post-doc in France and the PhD students there seem to have it just as bad, if not worse. From what I've heard from the US it's worse as well, you're expected to carry out teaching duties for pay, and your PI is more likely to string you along for 5+ years and stop you graduating since you're useful and cheap labour.