---

Population, 2021: 68,980,000
Gross National Income, Atlas method (Current USD) (Billions), 2021: $3,072.67
GNI per capita, Atlas method (Current USD), 2021: $45,880
Income Share Held by Lowest 20%, 2021: 7.6%
Gross Domestic Product (Current USD) (Billions), 2021: $3,194.56

Source: World Bank. World Development Indicators database. Country: United Kingdom. Last accessed September 11, 2026.

---

Population (in thousands), 2023: 68,683
Share of Household Income, 2015-2023:
– Bottom 40%: 20%
– Top 20%: 40%
– Bottom 20%: 7%
Gini Coefficient, 2015-2023: 32
Palma Index of Income Inequality, 2015-2023: 1.2
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Per Capita (Current US$), 2015-2023: $48,867
Government Expenditure on Health as % of GDP, 2015-2023: 10.3%
Government Expenditure on Health as % of Government Budget, 2015-2023: 22.4%

Notes: Share of household income – Percentage of income received by the 20 per cent of households with the highest income, by the 40 per cent of households with the lowest income and by the 20 per cent of households with the lowest income.
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 Lorenz curve plots the cumulative percentages of total income received against the cumulative number of recipients, starting with the poorest individual or household. The Gini index measures the area between the Lorenz curve and a hypothetical line of absolute equality, expressed as a percentage of the maximum area under the line. Thus 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.
GDP per capita (current US$) – GDP per capita is gross domestic product divided by midyear population. GDP is the sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion and degradation of natural resources. Data are in current US dollars.
Government revenue as percentage of GDP – Revenue is cash receipts from taxes, social contributions, and other revenues such as fines, fees, rent, and income from property or sales. Grants are also considered as revenue but are excluded here.
Government expenditure – General government final consumption expenditure (formerly general government consumption) includes all government current expenditures for purchases of goods and services (including compensation of employees). It also includes most expenditures on national defence and security, but excludes government military expenditures that are part of government capital formation.

Source: United Nations Children’s Fund, The State of the World’s Children 2024: The Future of Childhood in a Changing World – Statistical Compendium. UNICEF, Nov. 20, 2024.

---

“As of 2020, the United Kingdom has the fifth biggest economy in the world, behind the United States, China, Japan and Germany (Aldrick, 2020). GDP in current prices increased from $1341.6 billion in 1995 to $2.7 trillion in 2020, or equivalently, $40 284.6 per person (in current US$) (Table 1.2). GDP in current prices decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic, falling 9.7% in 2020, the largest reduction of all G7 countries (ONS, 2021c). This means that GDP in current prices was in fact greater in 2015, at $2.9 trillion. GDP has begun to recover since the lifting of social distancing measures; however, as of the first quarter of 2021, GDP remains below pre-pandemic levels and is not expected to return to these levels until at least 2022 (OBR, 2021). Government borrowing also reached £355 billion in 2020, levels not seen since the Second World War (OBR, 2021). Government borrowing as a percentage of GDP in 2021 was 13.1% above the EU-27 average, but 32% below the average of G7 countries (ONS, 2021h). This strain on public finances, combined with an imperative to increase public spending on the health service to address backlogs of elective care created by the COVID- 19 pandemic, has resulted in the incumbent government announcing tax increases for both employee and employer national insurance contributions and dividends from stocks and shares (BBC, 2021).”

---

“Income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient has remained steady since at least the mid-1990s, at a value in the mid-30s (Table 1.2). This level of income inequality is one of the highest of all EU-27 and G7 countries, only marginally lower than the United States, which had a Gini coefficient of 39 in 2017 (OECD, 2021a). Data availability on the at risk of poverty rate in the United Kingdom is poor, although from what data are available, it appears to be relatively stable, at around one quarter of the population (Table 1.2). In 2019, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights published a report on poverty in the United Kingdom, which found that 14 million people, one fifth of the population, live in poverty, largely driven by policies of austerity introduced by the government in 2010 in an attempt to curb public spending and reduce government borrowing (United Nations, 2019).”

---

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

Page last updated September 11, 2026 by Doug McVay, Editor.