National accounts at a glance

All UK figures referred to in this section are consistent with Blue Book 2026, which contains data and methodological improvements affecting estimates that are produced as part of the national accounts. Revisions occur when there are data changes or methodological improvements that are required to ensure data comparability over time, which are communicated in line with the National Accounts Revisions Policy.

Real gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to have increased by 1.2% in 2025, following growth of 1.1% in 2024. Output increased by a further 0.6% in Quarter 1 2026 and 0.5% in Quarter 2 2026. This points to continued growth in UK economic activity.

GDP is a measure of the total output produced in a particular country and GDP per head is one indicator of a country's living standards. Real GDP per head increased by 0.9% in 2025, following growth of 0.1% in 2024. The stronger increase in GDP per head in 2025 coincided with a slowdown in UK population growth.

As discussed in our Population estimates for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland: mid-2025, the UK population increased by 0.3% in the year to mid-2025, the lowest rate of growth since mid-2020. Net international migration remained the main contributor to population growth, although it was lower than in the previous year, while natural change made only a small positive contribution.

Gross domestic product (GDP) is a production concept, but net domestic product (NDP) is more appropriate from a welfare and sustainability perspective. It reflects the level of resources that are available for consumption or investment, and it is a proxy of the level of spending that can be maintained while leaving capital assets intact. This is because NDP considers the depreciation of capital assets - that is, the capital that is consumed as part of the production process for GDP.

Real UK NDP is estimated to have increased by 1.1% in 2025. Real NDP per head increased by 0.7% in 2025, following no growth in 2024, pointing to an improvement in the resources available per person after accounting for depreciation of capital assets. Real NDP decreased more than real GDP during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic because consumption of fixed capital did not fall during this period, unlike other types of expenditure.

Measures of economic welfare increased further in 2025, although the pace of growth varied across measures. Growth in real GDP, NDP and net national disposable income (NNDI) per head strengthened compared with 2024, while growth in the measures of real household disposable income per head slowed.

Household disposable income is the amount of money that individuals in the household sector can spend or save after income distribution measures. Real household gross and net disposable income, on a per-head basis, both increased by 1.5% in 2025, following increases of 3.0% and 3.7%, respectively, in 2024. These measures are adjusted for social transfers in kind; without this adjustment real household disposable income (RHDI) per head increased by 0.9% in 2025, following an increase of 3.0% in 2024. On aggregate, these measures of household disposable income pointed to a continued improvement in economic welfare in 2025 although the pace of improvement slowed compared with 2024.

Economic growth in 2025 was led by services industries, which together make up around 80% of UK economic output. Services output increased by 1.2% in 2025, while construction and production output increased by 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively. Growth was relatively broad across industries, although performance varied. Information and communication, and human health and social work made the largest positive contributions to annual growth, contributing 0.27 and 0.26 percentage points, respectively. Public administration and defence made the next largest contribution, at 0.15 percentage points. In contrast, education, and wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles made the largest negative contributions, at negative 0.07 and negative 0.05 percentage points, respectively.

Real household final consumption expenditure is estimated to have increased by 1.0% in 2025, following growth of 0.3% in 2024. This increase occurred against a mixed economic backdrop, with household disposable income continuing to increase, while conditions in the labour market weakened during the year.

Alongside the increase in household spending, households continued to save a relatively high proportion of their income. The household saving ratio increased slightly to 9.6% in 2025, from 9.5% in 2024. This remained below the pandemic high of 16.5% in 2020, when forced savings were a factor. A relatively high household saving ratio might indicate some precautionary saving, or could reflect returns on savings, among other factors.

Gross fixed capital formation is estimated to have increased by 3.4% in 2025, following growth of 0.6% in 2024. Growth in 2025 was supported by general government investment, which increased by 8.5% and business investment, which increased by 3.9%. This was partly offset by investment in private sector dwellings, which fell by 3.0% in 2025, following no growth in 2024.

The asset breakdown shows that investment trends varied significantly across asset types in 2025. Investment in ICT equipment and other machinery and equipment increased by 10.9%, while investment in other buildings and structures increased by 8.1%. Investment in intellectual property products also increased by 4.6%. In contrast, investment in transport equipment fell sharply by 22.3%, following growth of 3.0% in 2024.

General government final consumption expenditure increased by 2.3% in 2025, down from growth of 3.6% in 2024. This indicates that government consumption continued to increase but at a slower rate. The largest increase in expenditure in volume terms was for health, rising by £6.6 billion, followed by social protection and military defence, which increased by around £3.3 billion and £3.1 billion, respectively. 

Net trade continued to make a negative contribution to GDP growth in 2025, although this eased slightly compared with 2024. Export volumes increased by 1.2% in 2025, while import volumes increased by a stronger 3.7%. The composition of trade differed, with export growth driven by services, while import growth was led by goods. Services exports increased by 3.1%, while goods exports fell by 1.1%; goods imports increased by 5.2%, compared with growth of 1.0% in services imports. The increase in barriers to trade and the decoupling of global supply chains in recent years may be weighing on UK goods exports.

The UK's net borrowing from the rest of the world increased slightly in 2025. Household net lending increased and net borrowing by non-financial corporations and general government decreased, but this was more than offset by a fall in net lending by financial corporations.

The household sector, including non-profit institutions serving households, increased its net lending to 2.8% of GDP in 2025, from 2.6% in 2024. This occurred alongside continued growth in real household disposable income and household consumption in 2025.

Financial corporations remained net lenders in 2025, although their net lending decreased to 0.4% of GDP, from 1.5% in 2024. Non-financial corporations remained net borrowers, although net borrowing decreased to 0.9% of GDP in 2025, from 1.2% in 2024.

General government net borrowing decreased to 5.4% of GDP in 2025, from 6.0% in 2024. Overall, the UK remained a net borrower from the rest of the world, with net borrowing increasing slightly to 3.3% of GDP in 2025, from 3.1% in 2024.

Nominal gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 4.8% in 2025, down slightly from 5.0% in 2024. The GDP implied deflator eased to 3.6% in 2025 from 3.8% in 2024.

The GDP implied deflator measures changes in the price of economic output produced in the UK and is a broad measure of inflation. It can be decomposed into unit labour costs, unit profits, unit other income and unit net taxes. These are proxy measures for household, firm, and the government shares of income per unit of economic output.

By income category, the GDP deflator moderated slightly in 2025. Growth in compensation of employees strengthened, while gross operating surplus returned to growth following a fall in 2024. Growth in other income slowed, while both taxes on products and production and subsidies increased.

All G7 economies saw growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) in 2025. Growth slowed in Canada, France, Italy and the United States, while it increased in Germany, Japan and the UK compared with 2024. The United States remained the fastest-growing G7 economy, with growth of 2.2% in 2025. The UK economy grew by 1.2% in 2025, up slightly from 1.1% in 2024 and equal to growth in Japan. UK growth was below that of the United States and Canada, but above France, Italy and Germany. More information about the G7 countries can be found in our Glossary.