Population (2018): 66,488,991
Gross National Income, Atlas method (Current USD) (Billions) (2018): $2,748.38
GNI per capita, Atlas method (Current USD) (2018): $41,340
Income Share Held by Lowest 20% (2018): 7.5%
Gross Domestic Product (Current USD) (Billions) (2018): $2,825

Source: World Bank. World Development Indicators database. Country: United Kingdom. Last accessed Oct. 18, 2019.

Gross Domestic Product Per Capita (Current USD) (2010-2018): $39,932.10
Share of Household Income (2010-2018):
    Bottom 40%: NA; Top 20%: 40.6%; Bottom 20%: 7.5%
Gini Coefficient (2010-2018): 33.2
Palma Index of Income Inequality (2010-2018): NA

Gini coefficient – Gini index measures the extent to which the distribution of income (or, in some cases, consumption expenditure) among individuals or households within an economy deviates from a perfectly equal distribution. A Gini index of 0 represents perfect equality, while an index of 100 implies perfect inequality.
Palma index of income inequality – Palma index is defined as the ratio of the richest 10% of the population’s share of gross national income divided by the poorest 40%’s share.

Source: UNICEF (2019). The State of the World’s Children 2019. Children, Food and Nutrition: Growing well in a changing world. UNICEF, New York.

“Gross domestic product (GDP) in current prices increased from $565 billion in 1980 to $2.9 trillion in 2014, or equivalently, $45 603 per person (in current US$) (Table 1.2). GDP in current prices decreased during the global financial crisis of 2007–8, falling 4.3% in 2009 and returning to only weak positive growth from 2010 through to 2013 (European Commission, 2015). According to data from Eurostat, the United Kingdom experienced the highest fall in GDP per head of any EU country between 2007 and 2009 (24.3%, compared with the EU average of 5.8%). The unemployment rate fell between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s, reaching a low of 4.7% in 2004. Unemployment increased during the financial crisis and reached a peak of 8.0% in 2012, before decreasing and reaching 6.1% in 2014 according to data from Eurostat (well below the EU average of 10.2%).

“The financial crisis has had important implications for public finances. While government revenues as a share of GDP have remained relatively stable, government spending during the financial crisis has generally not kept up with GDP growth. As a result, the public deficit decreased from 9.5% of GDP in 2010 to 5.5% in 2012. According to Eurostat, the United Kingdom still had the 4th largest deficit relative to GDP in the EU in 2013, at 5.8% (European Commission, 2015).

“Income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient has remained steady since at least the mid-1990s, at a value in the low 30s (see Table 1.2). In global terms, this level indicates relatively low income inequality, although it is relatively high for a western European country. The at-risk of poverty rate has also remained largely unchanged in recent years, at around one quarter of the population in 2013.”

Source: Cylus J, Richardson E, Findley L, Longley M, O’Neill C, Steel D. United Kingdom: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(5): 1–125.

Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems in the US and sixteen other nations.

Page last updated Sept. 22, 2022 by Doug McVay, Editor.