Debt statistics

Debt can have a significant impact on people’s lives and on a country’s development as well. With the ongoing economic uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus pandemic, many people are looking at consolidating their debt, whether through secured loans, balance transfer credit cards or remortgaging – and lowering the interest they’re paying. We explore how much debt the UK is in, both as a country and as individuals. Is the UK out of its depth or staying above water?

Quick overview

How much debt is the UK in?

• £1.680 trillion is owed by individuals in the UK (January 2020)
• On average every Brit spent £969 on interest alone last year
• 318 people are declared bankrupt every day in the UK (October to December 2019)
• £31,845 average debt per adult in the UK (January 2020)
• There is over £1.95 trillion public sector debt in the UK (May 2020)
• This is equal to 100% of gross domestic product (GDP) – the first time that debt as a percentage of GDP has exceeded 100% since the financial year ending March 1963

Personal debt statistics

Personal debt is the money owed by individuals. It could be from a mortgage, credit card or short term loan, for example. We looked into how much is owed by the UK population.

• Total debt
• Table

How much interest is being paid on debt?

These stats show just how much interest is costing the UK.

• Total interest payments on personal debt is over £51.1 billion based on January 2020 trends
• Borrowers paid £140 million in interest a day in January 2020
• Per household that is an average of £1,836 in annual interest repayments alone
• Per person that is an average of £969 a year in interest repayments

How big is consumer credit lending in the UK?

Consumer credit lending is the amount of borrowing done on credit – but can we afford to pay it back?

• £224.9 billion outstanding consumer credit lending at the end of January
• This is an increase of £560 million since December 2019
• Total credit card debt in January 2020 was £72.1 billion, a 0.3% decrease in the year to January 2019
• Per household this is £2,595 of credit card debt alone

Consumer credit lending in the UK from 2012–2019

• Credit lending
• Table

How big of a problem is debt to individuals in the UK?

• 318 people are declared insolvent or bankrupt every day
• Citizens Advice dealt with 2,618 new debt problems every day in the year (to February 2020)
• 14 properties are repossessed every day (Q4 2019)
• 1,152 people a day reported they had become redundant between September and November (2019)

National debt statistics

National debt is the debt owed by the government of a country, as a result of a budget deficit. This is where government spending exceeds government revenue, often resulting in government borrowing.

• Public sector debt is calculated at £1.950 trillion in May 2020
• UK GDP is over £2 trillion (£2.089 trillion)
• Public sector debt is equal to 100% of GDP he first time that debt as a percentage of GDP has exceeded 100% since the financial year ending March 1963(2018/2019)
• Compared to public sector debt of 34.2% in 2007/08 (pre financial crash)

• National debt as a percentage of GDP
• Table

How does this debt compare to other countries

This level of debt may seem worryingly high, but how does the UK compare to other countries around the world?

• Sudan has the highest level of debt as a percentage of GDP, at 295%
• Japan has a debt of 252% of its GDP
• The UK sits 18th in the world for highest debt/GDP ratio

Debt interest

Borrowing money often incurs interest, even as a government. So how much is interest on the national debt costing the UK?

• In 2018/19, £48.7 billion was spent on interest repayments
• This amounts to 2.3% of the UK’s GDP
• 2017/18 represented the largest interest repayment of £55 billion