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.

The UK economy shrank by 0.1 percent in January 2025 after growing by 0.4 percent in December. Since a huge decline in GDP in April 2020, the UK economy has gradually recovered and is now around 3.4 percent larger than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. After the initial recovery from the pandemic, however, the UK economy has effectively flatlined, fluctuating between low growth and small contractions since January 2022. Labour banking on growth to turn around fortunes in 2025 In February 2025, just over half a year after winning the last general election, the approval rating for the new Labour government fell to a low of -48 percent. Furthermore, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer was not only less popular than the new Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, but also the leader of the Reform Party, Nigel Farage, whose party have surged in opinion polls recently. This remarkable decline in popularity for the new government is, in some part, due to a deliberate policy of making tough decisions early. Arguably, the most damaging of these policies was the withdrawal of the winter fuel allowance for some pensioners, although other factors such as a controversy about gifts and donations also hurt the government. While Labour aims to restore the UK's economic and political credibility in the long term, they will certainly hope for some good economic news sooner rather than later. Economy bounces back in 2024 after ending 2023 in recession Due to two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, in late 2023 the UK economy ended the year in recession. After not growing at all in the second quarter of 2023, UK GDP fell by 0.1 percent in the third quarter, and then by 0.3 percent in the last quarter. For the whole of 2023, the economy grew by 0.4 percent compared to 2022, and for 2024 is forecast to have grown by 1.1 percent. During the first two quarters of 2024, UK GDP grew by 0.7 percent, and 0.4 percent, with this relatively strong growth followed by zero percent growth in the third quarter of the year. Although the economy had started to grow again by the time of the 2024 general election, this was not enough to save the Conservative government at the time. Despite usually seen as the best party for handling the economy, the Conservative's economic competency was behind that of Labour on the eve of the 2024 election.

The gross domestic product of the United Kingdom was around 2.56 trillion British pounds, an increase when compared to the previous year, when UK GDP amounted to about 2.54 trillion pounds. The significant drop in GDP visible in 2020 was due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the smaller declines in 2008 and 2009 because of the global financial crisis of the late 2000s. Low growth problem in the UK Despite growing by 0.9 percent in 2024, and 0.4 percent in 2023 the UK economy is not that much larger than it was before the COVID-19 pandemic. Since recovering from a huge fall in GDP in the second quarter of 2020, the UK economy has alternated between periods of contraction and low growth, with the UK even in a recession at the end of 2023. While economic growth picked up somewhat in 2024, GDP per capita is lower than it was in 2022, following two years of negative growth. How big is the UK economy in relation to the rest of the world? As of 2024, the UK had the sixth-largest economy in the world, behind the United States, China, Japan, Germany, and India. Among European nations, this meant that the UK currently has the second-largest economy in Europe, although the economy of France, Europe's third-largest economy, is of a similar size. The UK's global economic ranking will likely fall in the coming years, however, with the UK's share of global GDP expected to fall from 2.16 percent in 2025 to 2.02 percent by 2029.  

Graph and download economic data for OECD based Recession Indicators for the United Kingdom from the Peak through the Trough (GBRRECDM) from 1955-02-01 to 2022-09-30 about peak, trough, recession indicators, and United Kingdom.

The statistic shows the growth rate in the real GDP in the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2023, with projections up until 2029. In 2023, the rate of GDP growth in the United Kingdom was at around 0.34 percent compared to the previous year.The economy of the United KingdomGDP is used an indicator as to the shape of a national economy. It is one of the most regularly called upon measurements regarding the economic fitness of a country. GDP is the total market value of all final goods and services that have been produced in a country within a given period of time, usually a year. Inflation adjusted real GDP figures serve as an even more telling indication of a country’s economic state in that they act as a more reliable and clear tool as to a nation’s economic health. The gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in the United Kingdom has started to level in recent years after taking a huge body blow in the financial collapse of 2008. The UK managed to rise from the state of dark desperation it was in between 2009 and 2010, from -3.97 to 1.8 percent. The country suffered acutely from the collapse of the banking industry, raising a number of questions within the UK with regards to the country’s heavy reliance on revenues coming from London's financial sector, arguably the most important in the world and one of the globe’s financial command centers. Since the collapse of the post-war consensus and the rise of Thatcherism, the United Kingdom has been swept along in a wave of individualism - collective ideals have been abandoned and the mass privatisation of the heavy industries was unveiled - opening them up to market competition and shifting the economic focus to that of service.The Big Bang policy, one of the cornerstones of the Thatcher government programs of reform, involved mass and sudden deregulation of financial markets. This led to huge changes in the way the financial markets in London work, and saw the many old firms being absorbed by big banks. This, one could argue, strengthened the UK financial sector greatly and while frivolous and dangerous practices brought the sector into great disrepute, the city of London alone brings in around one fifth of the countries national income making it a very prominent contributor to wealth in the UK.

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.

Weighted estimates from the voluntary fortnightly Business Insights and Conditions Survey (BICS) about financial performance, workforce, prices, trade, and business resilience. These are official statistics in development.

Sector and asset breakdowns of gross fixed capital formation (GFCF), including business investment and revisions.

Quarterly estimates of £ million levels from 1955 to 2015.

The UK economy grew by 0.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2024, compared with zero growth in the previous quarter. After ending 2023 in recession, the UK economy grew quite strongly in the first half of 2024, growing by 0.8 percent in Q1, and 0.4 percent in Q2, with growth slowing in the second half of the year. In the third quarter of 2020 the UK experienced record setting growth of 16.8 percent, which itself followed the record 20.3 percent contraction in Q2 2020. Growing economy key to Labour's plans Since winning the 2024 general election, the UK's Labour Party have seen their popularity fall substantially. In February 2025, the government's approval rating fell to a low of -54 percent, making them almost as disliked as the Conservatives just before the last election. A string of unpopular policies since taking office have taken a heavy toll on support for the government. Labour hope they can reverse their declining popularity by growing the economy, which has underperformed for several years, and when measured in GDP per capita, fell in 2023, and 2024. Steady labor market trends set to continue? After a robust 2022, the UK labor market remained resilient throughout 2023 and 2024. The unemployment rate at the end of 2024 was 4.4 percent, up from four percent at the start of the year, but still one of the lowest rates on record. While the average number of job vacancies has been falling since a May 2022 peak, there was a slight increase in January 2025 when compared with the previous month. The more concerning aspect of the labor market, from the government's perspective, are the high levels of economic inactivity due to long-term sickness, which reached a peak of 2.84 million in late 2023, and remained at high levels throughout 2024.

United Kingdom UK: Export Volume Index: % Change over Previous Period data was reported at 0.127 % in Mar 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of -3.220 % for Dec 2017. United Kingdom UK: Export Volume Index: % Change over Previous Period data is updated quarterly, averaging 0.960 % from Jun 1957 (Median) to Mar 2018, with 244 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 27.068 % in Dec 1972 and a record low of -22.093 % in Sep 2006. United Kingdom UK: Export Volume Index: % Change over Previous Period data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by International Monetary Fund. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.IMF.IFS: Volume and Unit Value Index: Quarterly.

United Kingdom UK: Production Index: Manufacturing: % Change over Previous Period data was reported at 2.372 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 0.108 % for 2016. United Kingdom UK: Production Index: Manufacturing: % Change over Previous Period data is updated yearly, averaging 0.000 % from Dec 2001 (Median) to 2017, with 17 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.561 % in 2010 and a record low of -9.377 % in 2009. United Kingdom UK: Production Index: Manufacturing: % Change over Previous Period data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by International Monetary Fund. The data is categorized under Global Database’s UK – Table UK.IMF.IFS: Production Index: Annual.

United Kingdom UK: Producer Price Index: % Change over Previous Period data was reported at 0.090 % in Apr 2018. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.091 % for Mar 2018. United Kingdom UK: Producer Price Index: % Change over Previous Period data is updated monthly, averaging 0.231 % from Feb 1957 (Median) to Apr 2018, with 735 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 4.748 % in Jan 2012 and a record low of -5.810 % in Jan 2014. United Kingdom UK: Producer Price Index: % Change over Previous Period data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by International Monetary Fund. The data is categorized under Global Database’s UK – Table UK.IMF.IFS: Consumer and Producer Price Index.

This page is no longer updated. It has been superseded by the Business insights and impacts on the UK economy dataset page (see link in Notices). It contains comprehensive weighted datasets for Wave 7 onwards. All future BICS datasets will be available there. The datasets on this page include mainly unweighted responses from the voluntary fortnightly business survey, which captures businesses’ responses on how their turnover, workforce prices, trade and business resilience have been affected in the two-week reference period, up to Wave 17.

The indicators and analysis presented in this bulletin are based on responses from the new voluntary fortnightly business survey, which captures businesses responses on how their turnover, workforce prices, trade and business resilience have been affected in the two week reference period. These data relate to the period 6 April 2020 to 19 April 2020.

This paper provides empirical evidence on the role played by loan supply shocks over the business cycle in the euro area, the UK and the USA from 1980 to 2011 by estimating time-varying parameter vector autoregression models with stochastic volatility and identifying these shocks with sign restrictions consistent with the recent macroeconomic literature. The evidence suggests that in all three economic areas loan supply shocks appear to have a significant effect, with clear signs of an increasing impact over the past few years. Moreover, the role of loan supply shocks is estimated to be particularly important during recessions.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) produces annual, quarterly and monthly data for main economic indicators (MEI). The variables cover national accounts, industrial production, employment, prices, business trends and trade for the member countries of the OECD and select non-member countries. The dataset also includes the OECD's leading indicators (key variables that signal changes in the business cycle).

The OECD defines each variable separately for each country. Nevertheless, the data are considered sufficiently similar to enable comparisons between countries, especially for relative values and rates of change.

These data were first provided by the UK Data Service in January 2003.

• leading indicators (indicators that run 6-12 months ahead of GNP cycle)
• national accounts
• national income
• production
• business tendency surveys
• consumer surveys
• manufacturing
• construction
• domestic demand
• employment
• unemployment
• other labour market indicators
• labour compensation
• producer prices
• consumer price index
• other prices
• monetary aggregates and their components
• domestic credit and debt
• interest rates
• security issues
• share prices
• currency conversions
• external finance
• foreign trade
• balance of payments
• capital and financial accounts
• financial accounts
• net errors and omissions
• world trade

Business Confidence in the United Kingdom decreased to -47 points in the first quarter of 2025 from -24 points in the fourth quarter of 2024. This dataset provides - United Kingdom Business Confidence - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

United Kingdom UK: Unemployment: % Change over Previous Period data was reported at -2.343 % in Mar 2018. This records an increase from the previous number of -5.016 % for Dec 2017. United Kingdom UK: Unemployment: % Change over Previous Period data is updated quarterly, averaging -0.476 % from Jun 1983 (Median) to Mar 2018, with 140 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 15.401 % in Sep 2008 and a record low of -9.895 % in Dec 1997. United Kingdom UK: Unemployment: % Change over Previous Period data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by International Monetary Fund. The data is categorized under Global Database’s UK – Table UK.IMF.IFS: Labour Force, Employment and Unemployment: Quarterly.

Summarizes the descriptive statistics of the four main UK’s economic factors analysed in this paper in all the 42 quarters between the years 2011–2021.