Economy of the United Kingdom
overview of the economy of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has a highly developed social market economy. In 2026, the United Kingdom is the fifth-largest national economy in the world measured by nominal gross domestic product (GDP), tenth-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP), and about 21st by nominal GDP per capita, constituting 3.38% of world GDP and 2.13% by purchasing power parity (PPP).
The United Kingdom has one of the most globalised economies and comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. In 2022, the United Kingdom was the fifth-largest exporter of goods and services in the world and the fourth-largest importer. It also had the fourth-largest outward foreign direct investment, and the fifteenth-largest inward foreign direct investment. In 2022, the United Kingdom's trade with the European Union accounted for 42% of the country's exports and 48% of its total imports. The United Kingdom has a highly efficient and strong social security system, which comprises roughly 24.5% of GDP.
The service sector dominates, contributing 82% of GDP; the financial services industry is particularly important, and London is the second-largest financial centre in the world. Edinburgh was ranked 17th in the world, and 6th in Europe for its financial services industry in 2021. The United Kingdom's technology sector has an enterprise value of US$1.2 trillion, with fintech, health technology, and semiconductors accounting for 48% of the value. The aerospace industry in the United Kingdom is the second-largest national aerospace industry.
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This entry incorporates text from “Economy of the United Kingdom” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.