Economy - overview:
The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is the third largest economy in Europe after Germany and France. Over the past two decades, the government has greatly reduced public ownership and contained the growth of social welfare programs. Agriculture is intensive, highly mechanized, and efficient by European standards, producing about 60% of food needs with less than 2% of the labor force. The UK has large coal, natural gas, and oil resources, but its oil and natural gas reserves are declining and the UK became a net importer of energy in 2005. Services, particularly banking, insurance, and business services, account by far for the largest proportion of GDP while industry continues to decline in importance. After emerging from recession in 1992, Britain's economy enjoyed the longest period of expansion on record during which time growth outpaced most of Western Europe. In 2008, however, the global financial crisis hit the economy particularly hard, due to the importance of its financial sector. Sharply declining home prices, high consumer debt, and the global economic slowdown compounded Britain's economic problems, pushing the economy into recession in the latter half of 2008 and prompting the then BROWN government to implement a number of measures to stimulate the economy and stabilize the financial markets; these include nationalizing parts of the banking system, cutting taxes, suspending public sector borrowing rules, and moving forward public spending on capital projects. Facing burgeoning public deficits and debt levels, the CAMERON government in 2010 initiiated a five-year austerity program, which aims to lower London's budget deficit from over 11% of GDP in 2010 to nearly 1% by 2015. The Bank of England periodically coordinates interest rate moves with the European Central Bank, but Britain remains outside the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).
GDP (purchasing power parity): GDP (official exchange rate): GDP - real growth rate: GDP - per capita (PPP): GDP - composition by sector: Labor force: Labor force - by occupation: Unemployment rate: Population below poverty line: Household income or consumption by percentage share: Distribution of family income - Gini index: Investment (gross fixed): Budget: Public debt: Inflation rate (consumer prices): Central bank discount rate: Commercial bank prime lending rate: Stock of narrow money: Stock of broad money: Stock of domestic credit: Market value of publicly traded shares: Agriculture - products: Industries: Industrial production growth rate: Electricity - production: Electricity - consumption: Electricity - exports: Electricity - imports: Oil - production: Oil - consumption: Oil - exports: Oil - imports: Oil - proved reserves: Natural gas - production: Natural gas - consumption: Natural gas - exports: Natural gas - imports: Natural gas - proved reserves: Current account balance: Exports: Exports - commodities: Exports - partners: Imports: Imports - commodities: Imports - partners: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: Debt - external: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad: Exchange rates:
NOTE: The information regarding United Kingdom on this page is re-published from the 2011 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of United Kingdom Economy 2011 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about United Kingdom Economy 2011 should be addressed to the CIA.
$2.189 trillion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 9
note:
data are in 2010 US dollars
[see also: GDP (purchasing power parity) country ranks ]
$2.259 trillion (2009 est.)
[see also: GDP (official exchange rate) country ranks ]
1.6% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 163
[see also: GDP - real growth rate country ranks ]
$35,100 (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 36
note:
data are in 2010 US dollars
[see also: GDP - per capita country ranks ]
agriculture: 0.9%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - agriculture country ranks ]
industry:
22.1%
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - industry country ranks ]
services:
77.1% (2009 est.)
[see also: GDP - composition by sector - services country ranks ]
31.45 million (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 19
[see also: Labor force country ranks ]
agriculture: 1.4%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - agriculture country ranks ]
industry:
18.2%
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - industry country ranks ]
services:
80.4% (2006 est.)
[see also: Labor force - by occupation - services country ranks ]
7.9% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 86
[see also: Unemployment rate country ranks ]
14% (2006 est.)
[see also: Population below poverty line country ranks ]
lowest 10%: 2.1%
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - lowest 10% country ranks ]
highest 10%:
28.5% (1999)
[see also: Household income or consumption by percentage share - highest 10% country ranks ]
34 (2005)
country comparison to the world: 92
[see also: Distribution of family income - Gini index country ranks ]
14.4% of GDP (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 136
[see also: Investment (gross fixed) country ranks ]
revenues: $926.7 billion
[see also: Budget - revenues country ranks ]
expenditures:
$1.154 trillion (2009 est.)
[see also: Budget - expenditures country ranks ]
76.5% of GDP (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 21
[see also: Public debt country ranks ]
3.3% (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 98
[see also: Inflation rate (consumer prices) country ranks ]
NA% (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 136
[see also: Central bank discount rate country ranks ]
0.63% (31 December 2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 153
[see also: Commercial bank prime lending rate country ranks ]
$88.62 billion (31 December 2010 est)
[see also: Stock of narrow money country ranks ]
$3.344 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)
[see also: Stock of broad money country ranks ]
$5.151 trillion (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 6
[see also: Stock of domestic credit country ranks ]
$2.796 trillion (31 December 2009)
country comparison to the world: 5
[see also: Market value of publicly traded shares country ranks ]
cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, poultry; fish
machine tools, electric power equipment, automation equipment, railroad equipment, shipbuilding, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, electronics and communications equipment, metals, chemicals, coal, petroleum, paper and paper products, food processing, textiles, clothing, other consumer goods
1.9% (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 133
[see also: Industrial production growth rate country ranks ]
368.6 billion kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 12
[see also: Electricity - production country ranks ]
345.8 billion kWh (2007 est.)
country comparison to the world: 12
[see also: Electricity - consumption country ranks ]
1.272 billion kWh (2008 est.)
[see also: Electricity - exports country ranks ]
12.29 billion kWh (2008 est.)
[see also: Electricity - imports country ranks ]
1.502 million bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 20
[see also: Oil - production country ranks ]
1.669 million bbl/day (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 15
[see also: Oil - consumption country ranks ]
1.393 million bbl/day (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 17
[see also: Oil - exports country ranks ]
1.491 million bbl/day (2008 est.)
country comparison to the world: 14
[see also: Oil - imports country ranks ]
3.084 billion bbl (1 January 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 31
[see also: Oil - proved reserves country ranks ]
58.56 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 16
[see also: Natural gas - production country ranks ]
87.45 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 8
[see also: Natural gas - consumption country ranks ]
12.17 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 17
[see also: Natural gas - exports country ranks ]
41.06 billion cu m (2009 est.)
country comparison to the world: 6
[see also: Natural gas - imports country ranks ]
292 billion cu m (1 January 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 40
[see also: Natural gas - proved reserves country ranks ]
-$40.34 billion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 185
[see also: Current account balance country ranks ]
$405.6 billion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 11
[see also: Exports country ranks ]
manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals; food, beverages, tobacco
US 14.71%, Germany 11.06%, France 8%, Netherlands 7.79%, Ireland 6.89%, Belgium 4.65%, Spain 4% (2009)
$546.5 billion (2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 7
[see also: Imports country ranks ]
manufactured goods, machinery, fuels; foodstuffs
Germany 12.87%, US 9.74%, China 8.88%, Netherlands 6.94%, France 6.64%, Belgium 4.86%, Norway 4.84%, Ireland 4.01%, Italy 3.99% (2009)
$NA (31 December 2010 est.)
[see also: Reserves of foreign exchange and gold country ranks ]
$8.981 trillion (30 June 2010)
country comparison to the world: 3
[see also: Debt - external country ranks ]
$1.169 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - at home country ranks ]
$1.705 trillion (31 December 2010 est.)
country comparison to the world: 3
[see also: Stock of direct foreign investment - abroad country ranks ]
British pounds (GBP) per US dollar - 0.6504 (2010), 0.6389 (2009), 0.5302 (2008), 0.4993 (2007), 0.5418 (2006)
This page was last modified 09-Feb-11