Global news and insight for corporate financial professionals
Browse additional economic indicators and data sets, selected by Global Finance editors, to learn more about the U.K. economic outlook, debt to GDP ratio, international trade performance and population trends. Rankings of the country best banks and safest banks are also available.
Unemployment is simple enough to understand: it is an economic condition in which individuals seeking jobs remain un-hired. Yet measuring how many people are unemployed at any given moment in any given country is rather complex.
USD 124 billion (2016)
International Monetary Fund (IMF), data retrieved January 2017
USD 2,609.9 billion (2017, estimate)
Intl$ 2,877.5 billion (2017, estimate)
| 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 |
| 2.5% | 2.6% | -0.6% | -4.3% | 1.9% | 1.5% | 1.3% |
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* | 2017* | ||
| 1.9% | 3.1% | 2.3% | 1.8% | 1.1% |
*Estimate
USD 39,526.2 (2017, estimate)
| 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2017* |
| 3.39% | 3.34% | 3.02% | 2.44% | 2.3% |
*Estimate
(2016 estimate)
1.7% (2014)
OECD, data retrieved January 2017
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* | 2017* |
| 2.6% | 1.5% | 0.1% | 0.7% | 2.5% |
*Estimate
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* | 2017* |
| 7.6% | 6.2% | 5.4% | 5.0% | 5.2% |
*Estimate
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* | 2017* |
| 86% | 87.9% | 89% | 89% | 88.8% |
*Estimate
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016* | 2017* |
| -5.7% | -5.6% | -4.2% | -3.3% | -2.7% |
*Estimate
Standard & Poor's: AA
Moody's: Aa1
Standard & Poor's / Moody's (Updated January 2017)
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| N/A | N/A | N/A |
HSBC Holdings, Prudential, GlaxoSmithKline, National Grid, Lloyds Banking Group, AstraZeneca, British American Tobacco, Aviva, Imperial Tobacco Group, BT Group, SABMiller, Diageo, Legal & General Group, WPP, Reckitt Benckiser Group, BAE Systems, Old Mutual, Standard Life, SSE, BP, Tesco, International Airlines, Vodafone, Aon, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, British Sky Broadcasting, Compass Group, Rio Tinto, Associated British Foods, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Standard Chartered, RELX Group, Liberty Global, Delphi Automotive, J Sainsbury, Centrica, Anglo American, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Kingfisher, CNH Industrial, London Stock Exchange, Land Securities Group, Marks & Spencer, British Land, Johnson Matthey, Investec, Schroders, Next, Wm Morrison Supermarkets, EasyJet, Pentair, St. James's Place, Mondi, Royal Mail, RSA Insurance Group, Willis Towers Watson, Vedanta Resources, ITV, Bunzl, Barratt Developments, Pearson, InterContinental Hotels, Direct Line Insurance, ARM Holdings, Hammerson, United Utilities, GKN, Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon, Smith & Nephew, Phoenix Group Holdings, Whitbread, Intu Properties, Dixons Carphone, Babcock International Group, 3i Group, Capita, Burberry Group, Derwent London, Travis Perkins, Virgin Money Holdings, Segro, Admiral Group plc, Great Portland Estates, Ashtead Group, Smiths Group, Thomas Cook Group, Berkeley Group Holdings, Inchcape, ICAP, Shaftesbury.
-4.3% (2017 estimate)
27.2% (2015)
2.8% (2015)
7.3% (2015)
Manufactured goods, fuels, chemicals; food, beverages, tobacco
Manufactured goods, machinery, fuels; foodstuffs
US 14.6%, Germany 10.1%, Switzerland 7%, China 6%, France 5.9%, Netherlands 5.8%, Ireland 5.5% (2015)
Germany 14.8%, China 9.8%, US 9.2%, Netherlands 7.5%, France 5.8%, Belgium 5% (2015)
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| USD 47,592 million | USD 52,449 million | USD 39,533 million |
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| USD -18,771 million | USD -81,809 million | USD -61,441 million |
| 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| USD -2118.3 million | USD -63456.8 million | USD -72050.2 million | USD 34955.5 million |
Liberty Global PLC, Ziggo NV, Netherlands, USD 6.8 billion / Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC, Engine Holding GmbH, Germany, USD 3.4 billion
(for a monthly update on M&A; click here )
Aviva PLC, Friends Life Group Ltd, Guernsey, USD 8.7 billion / GlaxoSmithKline PLC, Novartis AG-Vaccines Business, Switzerland, USD 7.1 billion / L1 Energy Ltd, RWE Dea AG, Germany, USD 7.1 billion / Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, Reynolds American Inc-Cigarette Brands Portfolio & Other Assets, United States, USD 7.1 billion / Gaetano Holdings Ltd, Komi Oil OOO, Russian Federation, USD 5.0 billion / British American Tobacco PLC, Reynolds American Inc, United States, USD 4.7 billion / CVC Capital Partners Ltd, Douglas Holding AG, Germany, USD 3.1 billion / Investor Group, E ON Espana SL, Spain, USD 3.1 billion / Cable & Wireless Communications PLC, Columbus International Inc, Bahamas, USD 3.1 billion
(for a monthly update on M&A; click here )
Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm.
Overall ranking: 7 out of 190 countries (2017)
Subcategories:
Starting a business: 16 out of 190 countries
Enforcing Contracts: 31 out of 190 countries
Registering Property: 47 out of 190 countries
Getting Credit: 20 out of 190 countries
Protecting Minority Investors: 6 out of 190 countries
Trading Across Borders: 28 out of 190 countries
Paying Taxes: 10 out of 190 countries
Dealing with Construction Permits: 17 out of 190 countries
Getting Electricity: 17 out of 190 countries
Resolving Insolvency: 13 out of 190 countries
7 out of 138 countries
(2016-2017)
Ranking: 10 / Score: 76.41 (Mostly free) (2016)
(100=totally free 0=totally repressed)
Parliamentary constitutional monarchy; a Commonwealth realm
English
Note: the following are recognized regional languages: Scots (about 30% of the population of Scotland), Scottish Gaelic (about 60,000 in Scotland), Welsh (about 20% of the population of Wales), Irish (about 10% of the population of Northern Ireland), Cornish (some 2,000 to 3,000 in Cornwall) (2012 est.)
Christian (includes Anglican, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist) 59.5%, Muslim 4.4%, Hindu 1.3%, other 2%, unspecified 7.2%, none 25.7% (2011 est.)
| 1990 | 2000 | 2010 | 2016* | 2021* |
| 57.238 million | 58.886 million | 62.76 million | 65.572 million | 67.781 million |
*Estimate
| 1960 | 1980 | 2000 | 2015 |
| 78% | 79% | 79% | 83% |
32.6 (2012)
(0=perfect equality, 100=absolute inequality)
Political Rights: 1
Civil Liberties: 1 (2017)
(1 represents the most free, 7 the least free rating)
Fixed 52.02% Mobile 124.13% (2015)
(fixed-telephone subscribers and mobile-cellular subscribers)
London: 17th
Aberdeen:85th
Birmingham: 96th
Glasgow: 119th
Belfast: 134th
(2016)