Country profile · Europe & Central Asia · High income

United Kingdom

Every figure below carries its global rank and its history — and a plain line on what the number means. Figures: World Bank, World Development Indicators (open data), retrieved 2026-07-27.

At a glance

Latest available year per indicator

GDP · 2025

$4.00 tn

5th largest of 214

The size of the economy — everything produced in a year. The headline number every other figure argues with.

GDP growth · 2025

1.4%

163rd fastest-growing of 214

How fast output is expanding, inflation-adjusted. Growth without jobs or wages is where the story usually hides.

GDP per capita · 2025

$57,602

27th highest of 214

Output per person — the rough proxy for average living standards, and an average that hides a lot.

Inflation (CPI) · 2025

3.9%

68th highest of 193

How fast consumer prices rise. What it understates for poorer households is half the story.

Unemployment · 2025

4.7%

108th highest of 187

The share of the labour force seeking work without finding it — and it counts precarious work as 'employed'.

Population · 2025

69.5 mn

22nd largest of 217

The denominator of everything per-capita.

Exports · 2025

30.6%

119th highest of 193

How much of the economy is sold to the world — openness, measured on the way out.

Imports · 2025

31.9%

134th highest of 193

How much of demand is met from abroad — openness, measured on the way in.

FDI, net inflows · 2025

1.9%

108th highest of 202

Long-term foreign investment into real assets — a confidence signal that is hard to fake and slow to reverse.

Total reserves · 2025

$214.4 bn

20th largest of 179

The central bank's war chest for defending the currency and paying for imports.

Current account · 2025

-2.4%

110th highest of 200

The broadest external balance — trade plus income and remittances. Persistent deficits must be financed.

Government debt · 2024

130.7%

5th highest of 109

What the state owes relative to the economy carrying it. Reported patchily — gaps here are common.

Exchange rate · 2025

0.8

206th highest of 213

How many units of local currency a dollar buys — a running vote of confidence.

Gini index · 2021

32.4

117th most unequal of 171

Inequality in one number: 0 is perfect equality, 100 is one person holding everything. Surveyed rarely.

Life expectancy · 2024

81.4

42nd highest of 217

The single most honest summary of whether an economy serves its people.

Extreme poverty · 2021

0.4%

128th highest of 171

The share of people living below the international extreme-poverty line — the floor beneath every other economic statistic.

What these indicators can — and cannot — tell you: Economics, Explained

The long view

1990 – latest

GDPcurrent US$
01.0tn2.0tn3.0tn4.0tn19901995200020052010201520202025
GDP per capitacurrent US$
010k20k30k40k50k19901995200020052010201520202025
GDP growthannual %
-10-50519901995200020052010201520202025
Inflation (CPI)annual %
0246819901995200020052010201520202025

Put United Kingdom next to any other economy — open the comparison desk — or see where it sits on the world heat map.