With the UK finding its feet after the financial crash of 2007/08, we explore how much debt the UK is in – both as a country and as individuals. Are we out of our depth or are we staying above water?
£1.578 trillion is owed by individuals in the UK (February 2018).
£1,106 extra debt per adult in December 2017 compared to December 2016.
£30,537 average debt per adult in the UK (February 2018).
£1,790.4 billion public sector debt in the UK.
This is equal to 87.2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
114%
Average debt of £30,386 per adult, is 114% of average earnings.
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.
How big of a problem is debt to individuals in the UK?
276 people are declared insolvent or bankrupt every day.
Citizens Advice Bureaux dealt with 4,322 new debt problems every day during the month of October in 2017.
18 properties are repossessed every day.
1,109 people a day reported they had become redundant between November and January (2018).
6 minutes 13 seconds.
Every 6 minutes a person is declared insolvent/bankrupt in the UK.
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 £1.798.0 trillion in March 2018.
UK GDP is over £2 trillion (£2.0532 trillion).
Public sector debt is equal to 86.3% of GDP (March 2018).
Compared to public sector debt of 35.9% in 2007 (pre financial crash).
This level of debt may seem worrying, especially as it is at it’s highest level in recent history. But how does the UK compare to other countries around the world?
Japan have the highest level of debt as a percentage of GDP – at 223.8%.
Greece and Italy both have debt above 100% of their GDP, at 180.0% and 131.2% respectively.
Germany on the other hand, has a debt of 65.7% of GDP.
The UK sits 26th 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?
Government debt interest repayments are set to hit their highest amount in recent history.
Government predictions suggest payments of £68 billion in 2017-18.
As a percentage of National Income, 2% is being spent on interest repayments.
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