The economy was seen by 51 percent of people in the UK as one of the top three issues facing the country in March 2025. The ongoing cost of living crisis afflicting the UK, driven by high inflation, is still one of the main concerns of Britons. Health has generally been the second most important issue since early 2022, possibly due to NHS staffing problems, and increasing demand for health services, which have plunged the National Health Service into a deep crisis. From late 2022 onwards, immigration emerged as the third main concern for British people, just ahead of the environment for much of 2023 and as of the most recent month, the second most important issue for voters. Labour's popularity continues to sink in 2025 Despite winning the 2024 general election with a strong majority, the new Labour government has had its share of struggles since coming to power. Shortly after taking office, the approval rating for Labour stood at -2 percent, but this fell throughout the second half of 2024, and by January 2025 had sunk to a new low of -47 percent. Although this was still higher than the previous government's last approval rating of -56 percent, it is nevertheless a severe review from the electorate. Among several decisions from the government, arguably the least popular was the government withdrawing winter fuel payments. This state benefit, previously paid to all pensioners, is now only paid to those on low incomes, with millions of pensioners not receiving this payment in winter 2024. Sunak's pledges fail to prevent defeat in 2024 With an election on the horizon, and the Labour Party consistently ahead in the polls, addressing voter concerns directly was one of the best chances the Conservatives had of staying in power in 2023. At the start of that year, Rishi Sunak attempted to do this by setting out his five pledges for the next twelve months; halve inflation, grow the economy, reduce national debt, cut NHS waiting times, and stop small boats. A year later, Sunak had at best only partial success in these aims. Although the inflation rate fell, economic growth was weak and even declined in the last two quarters of 2023, although it did return to growth in early 2024. National debt was only expected to fall in the mid to late 2020s, while the trend of increasing NHS waiting times did not reverse. Small boat crossings were down from 2022, but still higher than in 2021 or 2020. .

The United Kingdom's economy grew by 0.9 percent in 2024, after a growth rate of 0.4 percent in 2023, 4.8 percent in 2022, 8.6 percent in 2021, and a record 10.3 percent fall in 2020. During the provided time period, the biggest annual fall in gross domestic product before 2020 occurred in 2009, when the UK economy contracted by 4.6 percent at the height of the global financial crisis of the late 2000s. Before 2021, the year with the highest annual GDP growth rate was 1973, when the UK economy grew by 6.5 percent. UK economy growing but GDP per capita falling In 2022, the UK's GDP per capita amounted to approximately 37,371 pounds, with this falling to 37,028 pounds in 2023, and 36,977 pounds in 2024. While the UK economy as a whole grew during this time, the UK's population grew at a faster rate, resulting in the negative growth in GDP per capita. This suggests the UK economy's struggles with productivity are not only stagnating, but getting worse. The relatively poor economic performance of the UK in recent years has not gone unnoticed by the electorate, with the economy consistently seen as the most important issue for voters since 2022. Recent shocks to UK economy In the second quarter of 2020, the UK economy shrank by a record 20.3 percent at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although there was a relatively swift economic recovery initially, the economy has struggled to grow much beyond its pre-pandemic size, and was only around 3.1 percent larger in December 2024, when compared with December 2019. Although the labor market has generally been quite resilient during this time, a long twenty-month period between 2021 and 2023 saw prices rise faster than wages, and inflation surge to a high of 11.1 percent in October 2022.

In 2023 the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United Kingdom grew by 0.1 percent and is expected to grow by 1.1 percent in 2024 and two percent in 2025. Growth is expected to slow down to 1.8 percent in 2026, and then 1.5 percent in 2027 and 2028. The sudden emergence of COVID-19 in 2020 and subsequent closure of large parts of the economy were the cause of the huge 9.4 percent contraction in 2020, with the economy recovering somewhat in 2021, when the economy grew by 7.6 percent. UK slips into recession in late 2023 In the last two quarters of 2023, the UK economy shrank by 0.1 percent in Q3 and by 0.3 percent in Q4, plunging the UK into recession for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before this latest recession, however, the UK economy has been struggling with weak growth. In the eight quarters between 2022 and 2023, the economy grew in just half of them, falling in three, and stagnating in one. As the UK gears up for a likely general election in 2024, the economy has consistently been seen as one of the most important issues to people in Britain, ahead of health, immigration and the environment. As for which political party would handle the economy better, the ruling-Conservative party have trailed the Labour Party on this issue in polls since October 2022. High inflation persisting longer than expected One of the main factors that explains the UK's economic woes recently is rising prices. UK inflation accelerated sharply from late 2021 onwards, and reached a peak of 11.1 percent in October 2022. Unfortunately for UK residents, wage growth has only recently caught up with inflation, with wages in real terms falling throughout for twenty months between November 2021 and June 2023. By January 2024, inflation had fallen to the more modest rate of four percent, but getting inflation down to such levels came at a price. The Bank of England raised interest rates throughout 2022 and 2023, which certainly played a part in the UK's weak economic performance during that time.

Quarterly estimates of national product, income and expenditure, sector accounts and balance of payments.

The economic landscape of the United Kingdom has been significantly shaped by the intertwined issues of Brexit, COVID-19, and their interconnected impacts. Despite the country’s robust and diverse economy, the disruptions caused by Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic have created uncertainty and upheaval for both businesses and individuals. Recognizing the magnitude of these challenges, academic literature has directed its attention toward conducting immediate research in this crucial area. This study sets out to investigate key economic factors that have influenced various sectors of the UK economy and have broader economic implications within the context of Brexit and COVID-19. The factors under scrutiny include the unemployment rate, GDP index, earnings, and trade. To accomplish this, a range of data analysis tools and techniques were employed, including the Box-Jenkins method, neural network modeling, Google Trend analysis, and Twitter-sentiment analysis. The analysis encompassed different periods: pre-Brexit (2011-2016), Brexit (2016-2020), the COVID-19 period, and post-Brexit (2020-2021). The findings of the analysis offer intriguing insights spanning the past decade. For instance, the unemployment rate displayed a downward trend until 2020 but experienced a spike in 2021, persisting for a six-month period. Meanwhile, total earnings per week exhibited a gradual increase over time, and the GDP index demonstrated an upward trajectory until 2020 but declined during the COVID-19 period. Notably, trade experienced the most significant decline following both Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the impact of these events exhibited variations across the UK’s four regions and twelve industries. Wales and Northern Ireland emerged as the regions most affected by Brexit and COVID-19, with industries such as accommodation, construction, and wholesale trade particularly impacted in terms of earnings and employment levels. Conversely, industries such as finance, science, and health demonstrated an increased contribution to the UK’s total GDP in the post-Brexit period, indicating some positive outcomes. It is worth highlighting that the impact of these economic factors was more pronounced on men than on women. Among all the variables analyzed, trade suffered the most severe consequences in the UK. By early 2021, the macroeconomic situation in the country was characterized by a simple dynamic: economic demand rebounded at a faster pace than supply, leading to shortages, bottlenecks, and inflation. The findings of this research carry significant value for the UK government and businesses, empowering them to adapt and innovate based on forecasts to navigate the challenges posed by Brexit and COVID-19. By doing so, they can promote long-term economic growth and effectively address the disruptions caused by these interrelated issues.

•GLA Economics has produced long-run projections of London’s employment since 2002. These projections are trend based and set out the long run path of employment considered most likely based on the historic data available at the time of construction. These are used within the GLA for planning to provide capacity to accommodate the longer-terms needs of the London economy. Given their importance to GLA policy planning, this note looks at how the GLA Economics’ employment projections have performed since 2002 and how this compares to projections from some other respected organisations.

•Although GLA Economics’ employment projections are consistently below outturn, much of this is the result of upward revisions to historic employment data (which underpin the projections model). Further, the projections perform relatively well when looking at the projected annual growth rate and average annual error in relation to outturn, with the accuracy of the projections generally improving the longer the time period over which the estimates are analysed.

•The revisions to historic employment data also drive much of the variability in the GLA Economics’ employment projections numbers over time. However, and by design, the revised projections are relatively consistent over time and average revisions between iterations in GLA Economics employment projections are relatively small.

In the fourth quarter of 2024, the quarterly gross domestic product of the United Kingdom was approximately, 641 billion British pounds, compared with around 632.4 billion pounds in the same quarter. The large dip in GDP that can be seen in the second quarter of 2020 saw the UK economy fall from 604.7 billion pounds to 481.8 billion, with more usual levels of output not recovering until well into 2021. The COVID-19 lockdowns enacted by the UK government at that time was the main reason for this large fall in GDP. Growth lagging as UK heads into 2025 After ending 2023 in recession, the UK economy started 2024 with the strongest quarterly GDP growth in several years, growing by 0.7 percent in the first quarter, and then by 0.4 percent in the second quarter. Economic growth in the second half of the year was, however, far less promising, with GDP flatlining in the third quarter, and monthly GDP shrinking by 0.1 percent in September and then again in October. Although GDP is still forecast to grow in 2025, the overall economic picture is precarious. In November, UK inflation rose to 2.6 percent, compared with just 1.7 percent in September, while the labor market continues to show signs of cooling after a period of high job vacancies and low unemployment. Labour pinning hopes on long-term growth After winning its first general election in 19 years in 2024, the Labour Government has seen its approval ratings plummet in its first few months in office. This shaky start is partly due to a government strategy of making unpopular decisions early in their tenure, which they hope will eventually encourage stable economic growth in the mid to long-term. By far the least popular policy was the withdrawal of winter fuel benefits for a significant number of pensioners, a cost-cutting measure deemed necessary due to the UK's vulnerable public finance position, with government debt at around 100 percent of GDP. A further measure introduced was a national insurance tax increase for employers, with almost half of UK firms citing increased taxes as their main external concern in Q3 2024. Avoiding any further tax rises or cuts to services will depend on if policies in other areas, such as planning reform, will kickstart the UK economy in time before the next election.

As of the fourth quarter of 2024, the CPIH index in the United Kingdom was 134.7 indicating that consumer goods and services had increased in price by 34.7 percent when compared with the baseline year of 2015. In December 2024, the CPIH inflation rate was 3.5 percent, unchanged from the previous month. The CPIH index is the consumer price index, which also includes costs related to owning and maintaining a home. Inflation falls to more usual levels in 2024 After reaching a peak of 9.6 percent in October 2022, the CPIH inflation rate fell throughout 2023 and into 2024, eventually falling to a low of 2.6 percent in October 2024. Although the decline in energy inflation led to a significant fall in prices early in the 2023, other aspects of inflation, such as food prices remained high for a longer period. Throughout 2023 inflation in the UK was still quite high across many sectors, indicated by persistently high core inflation (inflation excluding food and energy prices) rates reported that year. UK economy continues to struggle Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK's economic performance has been quite lackluster. Although the economy bounced back from the initial drop in GDP caused by lockdowns, it has alternated between months of low growth and declines in GDP since 2021. In the last two quarters of 2023, the UK economy shrank by 0.1 percent, and then by 0.3 percent. As a result, the UK economy officially ended 2023 in a technical recession. While growth picked up in the first half of 2024, there was no growth in the third quarter of the year.

This collection contains an array of economic time series data pertaining to the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, primarily between the 1920s and the 1960s, and including some time series from the 18th and 19th centuries. These data were collected by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and they constitute a research resource of importance to economists as well as to political scientists, sociologists, and historians. Under a grant from the National Science Foundation, ICPSR and the National Bureau of Economic Research converted this collection (which existed heretofore only on handwritten sheets stored in New York) into fully accessible, readily usable, and completely documented machine-readable form. The NBER collection -- containing an estimated 1.6 million entries -- is divided into 16 major categories: (1) construction, (2) prices, (3) security markets, (4) foreign trade, (5) income and employment, (6) financial status of business, (7) volume of transactions, (8) government finance, (9) distribution of commodities, (10) savings and investments, (11) transportation and public utilities, (12) stocks of commodities, (13) interest rates, and (14) indices of leading, coincident, and lagging indicators, (15) money and banking, and (16) production of commodities. Data from all categories are available in Parts 1-22. The economic variables are usually observations on the entire nation or large subsets of the nation. Frequently, however, and especially in the United States, separate regional and metropolitan data are included in other variables. This makes cross-sectional analysis possible in many cases. The time span of variables in these files may be as short as one year or as long as 160 years. Most data pertain to the first half of the 20th century. Many series, however, extend into the 19th century, and a few reach into the 18th. The oldest series, covering brick production in England and Wales, begins in 1785, and the most recent United States data extend to 1968. The unit of analysis is an interval of time -- a year, a quarter, or a month. The bulk of observations are monthly, and most series of monthly data contain annual values or totals.

In 2022 the economies of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all experienced relatively strong growth rates, with GDP in England growing by 4.2 percent, Scotland by 3.2 percent, Wales by 3.8 percent, and Northern Ireland by three percent.

The economy of the United Kingdom grew by 0.4 percent in December 2024, after growing by 0.1 percent in November. As of the most recent month, the UK economy is around 3.5 percent larger than it was in February 2020, just before the start of COVID-19 lockdowns. After a record 19.6 percent decline in GDP in April 2020, the UK economy quickly returned to growth in the following months, and grew through most of 2021. Cost of living crisis lingers into 2025 As of December 2024, just over half of people in the UK reported that their cost of living was higher than it was in the previous month. Although this is a decline from the peak of the crisis in 2022 when over 90 percent of people reported a higher cost of living, households are evidently still under severe pressure. While wage growth has outpaced inflation since July 2023, overall consumer prices were 20 percent higher in late 2024 than they were in late 2021. For food and energy, which lower income households spend more on, late 2024 prices were almost 30 percent higher when compared with late 2021. According to recent estimates, living standards, as measured by changes in disposable income fell by 2.1 percent in 2022/23, but did start to grow again in 2023/24. Late 2023 recession followed by growth in 2024 In December 2023, the UK economy was approximately the same size as it was a year earlier, and struggled to achieve modest growth throughout that year. Going into 2023, a surge in energy costs, as well as high interest rates, created an unfavorable environment for UK consumers and businesses. The inflationary pressures that drove these problems did start to subside, however, with inflation falling to 3.9 percent in November 2023, down from a peak of 11.1 percent in October 2022. Although relatively strong economic growth occurred in the first half of 2024, with GDP growing by 0.7 percent, and 0.4 percent in the first two quarters of the year, zero growth was reported in the third quarter of the year. Long-term issues, such as low business investment, weak productivity growth, and regional inequality, will likely continue to hamper the economy going forward.

In 2024, gross domestic product per capita in the United Kingdom was 36,977 British pounds, compared with 37,028 pounds in the previous year. This was the second-consecutive year that GDP per head has fallen in the UK, with the measure shrinking by 0.9 percent in 2023. In general, while GDP per capita has grown quite consistently throughout this period, there are noticeable declines, especially between 2007 and 2009, and between 2019 and 2020, due to the Global Financial Crisis, and COVID-19 pandemic, respectively. Why is GDP per capita falling when the economy is growing? During the last two years that GDP per capita fell in the UK, the overall economy grew by 0.4 percent in 2023 and 0.9 percent in 2024. While the overall UK economy is therefore larger than it was in 2022, the UK's population has grown at a faster rate, resulting in the lower GDP per capita figure. The long-term slump in the UK's productivity, as measured by output per hour worked, has meant that the gap between GDP growth and GDP per capita growth has been widening for some time. Economy remains the main concern of UK voters As of February 2025, the economy was seen as the main issue facing the UK, just ahead of immigration, health, and several other problems in the country. While Brexit was seen as the most important issue before COVID-19, and concerns about health were dominant throughout 2020 and 2021, the economy has generally been the primary facing voters issue since 2022. The surge in inflation throughout 2022 and 2023, and the impact this had on wages and living standards, resulted in a very tough period for UK households. As of January 2025, 57 percent of households were still noticing rising living costs, although this is down from a peak of 91 percent in August 2022.

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HOUSING INDICATORS

The Land Registry house price index (Quarterly since 1968). Land Registry data External link

LABOUR MARKET INDICATORS

The unemployment rate. (Monthly since Q2 1992) The unemployment rate measures the proportion of the economically active population (those in work plus those seeking and available to work) who were unemployed. Seasonally Adjusted.

TRANSPORT INDICATORS

London Underground Journeys (Monthly since 2006) including moving average and annual rate of growth

Bus Journeys (Monthly since 2006) including moving average and annual rate of growth

AstraZeneca has abandoned plans for a £450m vaccine facility in the UK, highlighting economic and funding challenges. Learn about the implications for UK's life sciences sector.

United Kingdom Capital Issues: GBP: Issues: Total data was reported at 13,372.000 GBP mn in Oct 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 14,116.000 GBP mn for Sep 2018. United Kingdom Capital Issues: GBP: Issues: Total data is updated monthly, averaging 13,088.500 GBP mn from Jan 2003 (Median) to Oct 2018, with 190 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 129,347.000 GBP mn in Dec 2008 and a record low of 4,086.000 GBP mn in Aug 2018. United Kingdom Capital Issues: GBP: Issues: Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Bank of England. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.KB056: Capital Issuance: GBP.

A recent analysis on the impact of Brexit suggests that in 2023, the United Kingdom's economy was 2.5 percent smaller than it would have been in a base scenario where the UK never left the EU. The estimated hit to the UK's gross domestic product (GDP) increases to three percent in 2024, and to 3.2 percent by 2025 in this forecast. UK economy starts 2024 strongly As of March 2024, the UK economy is approximately 2.6 percent larger than it was just before the COVID-19 pandemic, which delivered a sudden and severe economic shock to the country in early 2020. While the initial bounce back from this collapse was robust, the recovery slowed by the end of 2020, and it wasn't until late 2021 that the economy returned to its pre-pandemic size. Throughout 2022 and 2023, the economy continued to struggle, and even experienced a recession at the end of 2023. In the first quarter of 2024, however, the UK economy grew by 0.6 percent, the fastest quarterly growth since late 2021, and a potential sign that the UK economy has turned a corner. How voters feel about Brexit in 2024 Since the middle of 2021, a growing majority of voters in Britain have advised that they think Brexit was the wrong decision. As of May 2024, around 55 percent thought it was wrong to leave the EU, compared with just 43 percent in April 2021. By comparison, the share of Britons who think Brexit was the right decision has fallen from 46 percent to 31 percent in the same time period. Voters are, however, still quite divided on what relationship they want with the EU, with only 31 percent supporting rejoining completely. Furthermore, Brexit has fallen behind other issues for voters such as the economy, the NHS, and immigration and will play a much smaller role in the 2024 election than it did in 2019.

United Kingdom Capital Issues: GBP: Non Resident: Repayments: Total data was reported at 28,019.000 GBP mn in Oct 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 31,547.000 GBP mn for Sep 2018. United Kingdom Capital Issues: GBP: Non Resident: Repayments: Total data is updated monthly, averaging 23,745.000 GBP mn from Jan 2003 (Median) to Oct 2018, with 190 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 55,771.000 GBP mn in Oct 2008 and a record low of 12,108.000 GBP mn in May 2003. United Kingdom Capital Issues: GBP: Non Resident: Repayments: Total data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Bank of England. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.KB056: Capital Issuance: GBP.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Great Britain Historical Database has been assembled as part of the ongoing Great Britain Historical GIS Project. The project aims to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain at sub-county scales. Further information about the project is available on A Vision of Britain webpages, where users can browse the database's documentation system online.

These data were originally published by the Board of Supervision for the Relief of the Poor in Scotland, later renamed the Local Government Board for Scotland. They were computerised by the Great Britain Historical GIS Project. They form part of the Great Britain Historical Database, which contains a wide range of geographically-located statistics, selected to trace the emergence of the north-south divide in Britain and to provide a synoptic view of the human geography of Britain, generally at sub-county scales.

This study contains Scottish poor law statistics, generally by parish, from 1845 to 1915, plus some limited data from 1931. From 1845 to 1889 they provide a single annual count of paupers, usually on the 14th of May. From 1890 to 1915 three counts are provided, for January, May and either August or September. The data classify recipients of poor relief by reason for relief (casual, sane, lunatic, vagrant) and by gender/age (aged male, aged female, children).

Please note: this study does not include information on named individuals and would therefore not be useful for personal family history research.

All variables are counts of categories of paupers, except for the total population of each area, from the census.