| Economy - overview | The UK, a leading trading power and financial center, is one of the quintet of trillion dollar economies of Western Europe. 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 reserves; primary energy production accounts for 10% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial nation. Services, particularly banking, insurance, and business services, account by far for the largest proportion of GDP while industry continues to decline in importance. GDP growth slipped in 2001-03 as the global downturn, the high value of the pound, and the bursting of the "new economy" bubble hurt manufacturing and exports. Output recovered in 2004, to 3.2% growth, then slowed to 1.7% in 2005 and 2.7% in 2006. The economy is one of the strongest in Europe; inflation, interest rates, and unemployment remain low. The relatively good economic performance has complicated the BLAIR government's efforts to make a case for Britain to join the European Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Critics point out that the economy is doing well outside of EMU, and public opinion polls show a majority of Britons are opposed to the euro. Meantime, the government has been speeding up the improvement of education, transport, and health services, at a cost in higher taxes and a widening public deficit. |
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| GDP | 2.4% (2005 est.) |
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| GDP - real growth rate | 2.8% (2006 est.) |
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| GDP - composition by sector | agriculture: 1%
industry: 25.6%
services: 73.4% (2006 est.) |
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| Population below poverty line | 17% (2002 est.) |
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Household income or consumption
by percentage share | lowest 10%: 2.1%
highest 10%: 28.5% (1999) |
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Distribution of family income
- Gini index | 36.8 (1999) |
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| Labor force | 31.1 million (2006 est.) |
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| Labor force - by occupation | agriculture: 1.4%
industry: 18.2%
services: 80.4% (2006 est.) |
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| Unemployment rate | 2.9% (2006 est.) |
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| Budget | revenues: $973 billion
expenditures: $1.04 trillion; including capital expenditures of $87 billion (2006 est.) |
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| Industries | 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 |
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| Industrial production growth rate | 0% (2006 est.) |
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Electricity -
production | 363.2 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
production by source | fossil fuel: 73.8%
hydro: 0.9%
nuclear: 23.7%
other: 1.6% (2001) |
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Electricity -
consumption | 345.2 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
exports | 2.3 billion kWh (2004) |
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Electricity -
imports | 9.8 billion kWh (2004) |
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| Oil - production | 2.075 million bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - consumption | 1.827 million bbl/day (2004 est.) |
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| Oil - exports | 1.498 million bbl/day (2001) |
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| Oil - imports | 1.084 million bbl/day (2003) |
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| Oil - proved reserves | 4.5 billion bbl (31 December 2004) |
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| Agriculture - products | cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle, sheep, poultry; fish |
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| Exports | $468.8 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Exports - commodities | manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals; food, beverages, tobacco |
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| Exports - partners | US 15.1%, Germany 10.5%, France 8.9%, Ireland 7.3%, Netherlands 5.5%, Belgium 5%, Spain 4.4% (2005) |
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| Imports | $603 billion f.o.b. (2006 est.) |
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| Imports - commodities | manufactured goods, machinery, fuels; foodstuffs |
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| Imports - partners | Germany 12.8%, US 8.7%, France 7.1%, Netherlands 6.6%, China 5%, Norway 4.7%, Belgium 4.6%, Italy 4% (2005) |
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| Debt - external | $8.28 trillion (30 June 2006) |
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| Currency code | GBP |
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| Exchange rates | British pounds per US dollar - 0.5418 (2006), 0.5493 (2005), 0.5462 (2004), 0.6125 (2003), 0.6672 (2002) |
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| Fiscal year | 6 April - 5 April |
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