Ahhh. Very different indeed!
Install cost would be significantly higher if we started using these consumer units!
Imagine trying to fit one of those in a cramped understairs cupboard!
You also have to remember that the UK and, for example, France started out with different practices but by time you get to a certain critical size of infrastructure you are kind of stuck with those practices.
The UK had one major revision after WW2 and that was the introduction of the
fused plug for domestic circuits to 13A. That was partly driven by the need to save cost on copper and CU size, but it was also a far sighted appreciation that we would need a lot of sockets in the future and huge numbers of small radial circuits are a really inefficient use of resources. I don't think they understood just how many folks now use, but they realised it would be more than one or maybe two per room!
From that we have the 32A RFC as well as the options for off 20A / 2.5mm and 32A / 4mm radials (plus the odd 32-45A cooker circuit's socket) all with unlimited numbers of sockets, subject to a sane expected total usage / coverage area / volt drop of course.
The other big difference that
@Mike Johnson mentioned is they use DP MCBs as historically they did not have neutral well-referenced to earth, where as the UK with is polarised plugs (even in 5A / 15A round pin days) had established that pre-WW2 (though you will see some very old UK boards and cut-outs with fused neutrals - a big non-no these days).
Also most of the EU seems to be on TT earthing, so DP VOELCB/RCDs have been an absolute necessity for years, where as the UK with its TN-S (and recently TN-C-S) along with a very strong design requirement on Zs/disconnection times was content with line-only fuses/MCBs for fault disconnection and slower to adopt RCDs until deaths from lawnmowers slicing cables in the garden, etc, became a significant issue.
now that could really confuse. 
