Spending Units: By default, public spending is displayed in billions of pounds. By using a dropdown control in the table heading you can select £ bln (2019), and percent of GDP.

Chart Title: You can create a title for your chart. Use the title text box to enter a title and click the button to the right of the text field.

UK or Country: By default, the chart shows overall United Kingdom government spending. But you can select spending for individual countries by selecting the country dropdown control in the table heading.

View: There are two ways to view the spending data. The default view breaks down spending into functions. There is also a COFOG view that categorizes spending using the UN standard methodology.

General Help: You can use controls on the table below to change the following variables: spending units—e.g. percent of GDP, etc.— and year. You can select the HM Treasury Budget fiscal year.

Line/Bar: By default, the data series are displayed as line charts. But you can also select a bar chart.

Data Stack: By default, the data series are “stacked” when displayed on the chart. But you can change the setting to “un stack” the data series.

Chart Size: By default, the chart is displayed at medium size. But you can use the dropdown control to change the size.

Color: By default charts are displayed with color data lines and fill. You can change this to grayscale if you want.

Data Range

Start Year: You can select any start year you want using the dropdown control in the table heading. At the top and bottom of the dropdown only years ending in “0” are shown. Select a start year to get close, then select the start year you want.

End Year: You can select any end year you want using the dropdown control in the table heading. At the top and bottom of the dropdown only years ending in “0” are shown. Select an end year to get close, then select the end year you want.

If you’d like to create your own custom chart of spending data you should use the table above to make your selections.

Select the year range: Select the start year and the end year you want by selecting the years you want in the two year dropdown boxes.
Select spending items: Just select the spending item you want from the dropdown control. Then click a radio button to select the level of government: federal, state, or local. If you select from the < select > you will add another data series to your chart. Up to 5 data series are allowed at once. Click the “X” link to remove a data series from the chart.
Select units: You can select the display in billions of nominal (i.e. inflated) pounds, billions of real (i.e. year 2019) pounds, or as percent of GDP.
Choose chart features: You can select the size of the chart, switch from bar chart to line chart, select color or black and white, stacked or not. You can also blow up the chart to fill the screen with the “fullsize” tab control above the chart display.

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Download Data File

Click button to download CSV file of dataset in chart.

Download Tab-delimited Data

Copy and Paste: Here is the dataset you have just charted. The table also includes nominal or chained GDP for each year charted. If you’d like the data for analysis, just copy the tab-delimited text in the textbox below (click cursor in text box, then press ctrl-A then press ctrl-C) and paste it into your spreadsheet.

Year Inflation GDP-UK £ billion nominal Population-UK million Public Net Debt-total percent GDP 1900 4.12 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 41.155 30.16 a 1901 -1.43 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 41.538 33.11 a 1902 -1 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 41.893 35.84 a 1903 -0.28 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 42.247 37.95 a 1904 -1.08 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 42.611 37.69 a 1905 0.46 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 42.981 36.16 a 1906 1.42 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 43.361 34.40 a 1907 1.54 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 43.738 32.43 a 1908 -0.72 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 44.124 33.34 a 1909 -0.35 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 44.520 32.41 a 1910 1.43 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 44.916 31.69 a 1911 0.6 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 42.190 29.26 a 1912 2.6 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 42.374 27.40 a 1913 -0.16 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 42.582 25.86 a 1914 -0.81 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 42.957 25.36 a 1915 14.34 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 41.362 36.77 a 1916 14.79 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 40.536 62.09 a 1917 24.32 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 39.781 94.99 a 1918 16.81 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 39.582 117.45 a 1919 15.24 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 42.944 138.66 a 1920 16.64 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 43.646 131.85 a 1921 -8.17 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 43.904 155.36 a 1922 -14.46 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 44.332 172.85 a 1923 -7.53 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 44.563 183.27 a 1924 -2.09 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 44.886 176.24 a 1925 -0.26 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 45.040 169.72 a 1926 -0.42 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 45.218 175.04 a 1927 -1.94 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 45.432 165.44 a 1928 -0.89 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 45.622 164.85 a 1929 -0.84 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 45.731 160.99 a 1930 -0.84 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 45.889 162.99 a 1931 -1.83 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 46.074 172.97 a 1932 -2.24 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 46.335 177.31 a 1933 -1.39 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 46.520 179.11 a 1934 -0.87 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 46.666 174.41 a 1935 0.79 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 46.869 166.45 a 1936 0.9 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 47.081 157.44 a 1937 3.46 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 47.289 147.22 a 1938 2.36 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 47.494 146.93 a 1939 2.89 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 47.548 139.28 a 1940 11.13 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 46.029 111.52 a 1941 11.46 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 44.870 121.79 a 1942 7.49 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 44.323 140.19 a 1943 4.44 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 48.262 160.23 a 1944 5 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 48.460 186.84 a 1945 1.64 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 48.669 221.57 a 1946 2.81 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 48.988 244.26 a 1947 9.08 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 49.539 245.70 a 1948 6.34 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 50.033 224.17 a 1949 3.19 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 50.331 206.77 a 1950 1.34 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 50.382 202.50 a 1951 8.55 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 50.287 181.21 a 1952 7.11 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 50.429 166.65 a 1953 1.83 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 50.593 156.16 a 1954 1.13 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 50.765 151.07 a 1955 4.91 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 50.946 140.51 a 1956 7.05 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 51.184 129.72 a 1957 4.08 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 51.430 122.18 a 1958 3.7 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 51.653 117.28 a 1959 0.76 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 51.956 112.25 a 1960 1.11 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 52.373 105.85 a 1961 3.88 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 52.807 101.20 a 1962 3.65 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 53.292 98.08 a 1963 1.55 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 53.625 95.98 a 1964 3.77 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 53.991 88.78 a 1965 6.05 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 54.350 82.66 a 1966 5.42 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 54.643 79.56 a 1967 3.03 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 54.959 76.75 a 1968 4.44 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 55.214 74.67 a 1969 6.75 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 55.461 68.29 a 1970 9.92 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 55.632 59.03 a 1971 8.57 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 55.928 53.19 a 1972 7.9 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.097 50.78 a 1973 9.39 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.223 45.10 a 1974 15.8 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.236 43.66 a 1975 25.7 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.226 45.27 a 1976 16.02 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.216 47.23 a 1977 14.17 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.190 46.06 a 1978 12.31 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.178 42.71 a 1979 14.98 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.240 40.09 a 1980 19.69 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.330 37.77 a 1981 12.31 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.358 39.22 a 1982 8.16 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.291 39.18 a 1983 5.78 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.316 37.71 a 1984 5.34 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.409 38.00 a 1985 5.63 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.554 37.87 a 1986 4.6 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.684 36.39 a 1987 5.82 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.804 33.78 a 1988 6.47 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 56.916 30.13 a 1989 8.21 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 57.077 25.01 a 1990 8.58 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 57.238 22.64 a 1991 6.64 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 57.439 21.41 a 1992 3.29 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 57.585 22.69 a 1993 3.07 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 57.714 26.23 a 1994 1.91 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 57.862 30.81 a 1995 2.68 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 58.025 34.04 a 1996 4.24 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 58.164 35.40 a 1997 -0.15 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 58.314 36.40 a 1998 1.33 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 58.475 36.09 a 1999 1.42 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 58.684 34.80 a 2000 1.17 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 58.886 32.10 a 2001 1.55 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 59.113 28.09 a 2002 2.16 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 59.366 27.75 a 2003 2.46 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 59.637 29.34 a 2004 2.65 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 59.950 30.58 a 2005 3.02 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 60.413 32.95 a 2006 2.86 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 60.827 33.93 a 2007 2.31 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 61.319 34.65 a 2008 3.42 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 61.824 35.59 a 2009 0.87 measuringworth.com/ukgdp 62.261 49.74 a 2010 1.32 1558.1 62.760 65.97 a 2011 1.94 1627.2 63.285 71.82 a 2012 1.78 1672.3 63.705 75.42 a 2013 1.88 1727.5 64.106 79.09 a 2014 1.96 1800.8 64.597 81.14 a 2015 1.25 1879.5 65.110 82.56 a Legend: a - actual outturn Data Sources for 1900: GDP: www.measuringworth.org/ukgdp/ Measuring Worth - UK GDP Spending: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Historical-Statistics-B-Mitchell/dp/1107402441/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366835878&sr=8-1 B.R. Mitchell, British Historical Statistics Debt: <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Historical-Statistics-B-Mitchell/dp/1107402441/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1366835878&sr=8-1 B.R. Mitchell, British Historical Statistics Data Sources for 2015: GDP: obr.uk/efo/economic-fiscal-outlook-march-2018/ OBR EFO supp. economy tables Spending: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-treasury/series/public-expenditure-statistical-analyses-pesa HM Treasury PESA Debt: obr.uk/data/ OBR Public Finances Databank

View Data Series

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Below is a formatted version of the dataset displayed in the chart. Included is a column of nominal or chained GDP for each year charted.

Public Net Debt
Fiscal Years 1900 to 2015
Year	Inflation	GDP-UK £ billion nominal	Population-UK million	Public Net Debt -total -total percent GDP
1900	4.12	MW gdp	41.155	30.16	a
1901	-1.43	MW gdp	41.538	33.11	a
1902	-1	MW gdp	41.893	35.84	a
1903	-0.28	MW gdp	42.247	37.95	a
1904	-1.08	MW gdp	42.611	37.69	a
1905	0.46	MW gdp	42.981	36.16	a
1906	1.42	MW gdp	43.361	34.40	a
1907	1.54	MW gdp	43.738	32.43	a
1908	-0.72	MW gdp	44.124	33.34	a
1909	-0.35	MW gdp	44.520	32.41	a
1910	1.43	MW gdp	44.916	31.69	a
1911	0.6	MW gdp	42.190	29.26	a
1912	2.6	MW gdp	42.374	27.40	a
1913	-0.16	MW gdp	42.582	25.86	a
1914	-0.81	MW gdp	42.957	25.36	a
1915	14.34	MW gdp	41.362	36.77	a
1916	14.79	MW gdp	40.536	62.09	a
1917	24.32	MW gdp	39.781	94.99	a
1918	16.81	MW gdp	39.582	117.45	a
1919	15.24	MW gdp	42.944	138.66	a
1920	16.64	MW gdp	43.646	131.85	a
1921	-8.17	MW gdp	43.904	155.36	a
1922	-14.46	MW gdp	44.332	172.85	a
1923	-7.53	MW gdp	44.563	183.27	a
1924	-2.09	MW gdp	44.886	176.24	a
1925	-0.26	MW gdp	45.040	169.72	a
1926	-0.42	MW gdp	45.218	175.04	a
1927	-1.94	MW gdp	45.432	165.44	a
1928	-0.89	MW gdp	45.622	164.85	a
1929	-0.84	MW gdp	45.731	160.99	a
1930	-0.84	MW gdp	45.889	162.99	a
1931	-1.83	MW gdp	46.074	172.97	a
1932	-2.24	MW gdp	46.335	177.31	a
1933	-1.39	MW gdp	46.520	179.11	a
1934	-0.87	MW gdp	46.666	174.41	a
1935	0.79	MW gdp	46.869	166.45	a
1936	0.9	MW gdp	47.081	157.44	a
1937	3.46	MW gdp	47.289	147.22	a
1938	2.36	MW gdp	47.494	146.93	a
1939	2.89	MW gdp	47.548	139.28	a
1940	11.13	MW gdp	46.029	111.52	a
1941	11.46	MW gdp	44.870	121.79	a
1942	7.49	MW gdp	44.323	140.19	a
1943	4.44	MW gdp	48.262	160.23	a
1944	5	MW gdp	48.460	186.84	a
1945	1.64	MW gdp	48.669	221.57	a
1946	2.81	MW gdp	48.988	244.26	a
1947	9.08	MW gdp	49.539	245.70	a
1948	6.34	MW gdp	50.033	224.17	a
1949	3.19	MW gdp	50.331	206.77	a
1950	1.34	MW gdp	50.382	202.50	a
1951	8.55	MW gdp	50.287	181.21	a
1952	7.11	MW gdp	50.429	166.65	a
1953	1.83	MW gdp	50.593	156.16	a
1954	1.13	MW gdp	50.765	151.07	a
1955	4.91	MW gdp	50.946	140.51	a
1956	7.05	MW gdp	51.184	129.72	a
1957	4.08	MW gdp	51.430	122.18	a
1958	3.7	MW gdp	51.653	117.28	a
1959	0.76	MW gdp	51.956	112.25	a
1960	1.11	MW gdp	52.373	105.85	a
1961	3.88	MW gdp	52.807	101.20	a
1962	3.65	MW gdp	53.292	98.08	a
1963	1.55	MW gdp	53.625	95.98	a
1964	3.77	MW gdp	53.991	88.78	a
1965	6.05	MW gdp	54.350	82.66	a
1966	5.42	MW gdp	54.643	79.56	a
1967	3.03	MW gdp	54.959	76.75	a
1968	4.44	MW gdp	55.214	74.67	a
1969	6.75	MW gdp	55.461	68.29	a
1970	9.92	MW gdp	55.632	59.03	a
1971	8.57	MW gdp	55.928	53.19	a
1972	7.9	MW gdp	56.097	50.78	a
1973	9.39	MW gdp	56.223	45.10	a
1974	15.8	MW gdp	56.236	43.66	a
1975	25.7	MW gdp	56.226	45.27	a
1976	16.02	MW gdp	56.216	47.23	a
1977	14.17	MW gdp	56.190	46.06	a
1978	12.31	MW gdp	56.178	42.71	a
1979	14.98	MW gdp	56.240	40.09	a
1980	19.69	MW gdp	56.330	37.77	a
1981	12.31	MW gdp	56.358	39.22	a
1982	8.16	MW gdp	56.291	39.18	a
1983	5.78	MW gdp	56.316	37.71	a
1984	5.34	MW gdp	56.409	38.00	a
1985	5.63	MW gdp	56.554	37.87	a
1986	4.6	MW gdp	56.684	36.39	a
1987	5.82	MW gdp	56.804	33.78	a
1988	6.47	MW gdp	56.916	30.13	a
1989	8.21	MW gdp	57.077	25.01	a
1990	8.58	MW gdp	57.238	22.64	a
1991	6.64	MW gdp	57.439	21.41	a
1992	3.29	MW gdp	57.585	22.69	a
1993	3.07	MW gdp	57.714	26.23	a
1994	1.91	MW gdp	57.862	30.81	a
1995	2.68	MW gdp	58.025	34.04	a
1996	4.24	MW gdp	58.164	35.40	a
1997	-0.15	MW gdp	58.314	36.40	a
1998	1.33	MW gdp	58.475	36.09	a
1999	1.42	MW gdp	58.684	34.80	a
2000	1.17	MW gdp	58.886	32.10	a
2001	1.55	MW gdp	59.113	28.09	a
2002	2.16	MW gdp	59.366	27.75	a
2003	2.46	MW gdp	59.637	29.34	a
2004	2.65	MW gdp	59.950	30.58	a
2005	3.02	MW gdp	60.413	32.95	a
2006	2.86	MW gdp	60.827	33.93	a
2007	2.31	MW gdp	61.319	34.65	a
2008	3.42	MW gdp	61.824	35.59	a
2009	0.87	1582.7	62.261	49.74	a
2010	1.32	1558.1	62.760	65.97	a
2011	1.94	1627.2	63.285	71.82	a
2012	1.78	1672.3	63.705	75.42	a
2013	1.88	1727.5	64.106	79.09	a
2014	1.96	1800.8	64.597	81.14	a
2015	1.25	1879.5	65.110	82.56	a
Legend: a - actual outturn Data Sources for 1900: GDP: Measuring Worth - UK GDP Spending: B.R. Mitchell, British Historical Statistics Debt: B.R. Mitchell, British Historical Statistics Data Sources for 2015: GDP: OBR EFO supp. economy tables Spending: HM Treasury PESA Debt: OBR Public Finances Databank

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Spending Data Sources

Expenditure data since 1983 comes from HM Treasury’s Public Expenditure Statistical Analysis reports.

Detailed table of spending data sources here.

Gross Domestic Product data comes from measuringworth.com.

Central government spending data begins in 1692.

Local authority spending data begins in 1868.

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Data Sources for 1900_2015:

Sources for 1900:

GDP: Measuring Worth - UK GDP
Spending: B.R. Mitchell, British Historical Statistics
Debt: B.R. Mitchell, British Historical Statistics

Sources for 2015:

GDP: OBR EFO supp. economy tables
Spending: HM Treasury PESA
Debt: OBR Public Finances Databank

> spending data sources for other years

UK Revenue and Deficit Forecast -- March 2026

On March 11, 2026 we updated UK revenue forecast data for 2025-26 to 2030-31 from the Office of Budget Responsibility's March 2025 Economic and fiscal outlook report in a zip file labeled "March 2026 Economic and fiscal outlook - charts and tables (zip file)" and a spreadsheet file named "efo-march-2026-charts-and-tables-annex-tables.xlsx" and Table A.5: Current Receipts in tab "TA.5".

**UK Government Revenue Forecast**
2025-26 Forecast	March 2025 £ billion	March 2026 £ billion
Central Government	£1,157.6	£1,071.1
Local Authorities	£71.4	£67.9
Total UK Revenue	£1,229.0	£1,139.0

On March 11, 2026 we updated UK deficit forecast data for 2025-2065 to 2030-31 from the Office of Budget Responsibility's March 2026 Economic and fiscal outlook report Table 6.5 Components of Net Borrowing in tab "6.5" in a zip file labeled "March 2026 Economic and fiscal outlook - detailed forecast tables: aggregates" and a spreadsheet file named "efo-march-2026-detailed-forecast-tables-aggregates.xlsx".

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PESA 2025 Update

On July 23, 2025, HM Treasury published its Uk Public Revenue Outturn -- March 2025

On April 23, 2025 the Office for National Statistics (ONS) published its annual Public Sector Fin...

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Budget News

Budget 2012: 50p tax rate scrapped and allowance raised
Personal allowance now close to £10,000.

Autumn Statement 2011
Chancellor George Osborne introduces six more years of pain.

Budget 2011: George Osborne set for 8bn pound windfall
Treasury revenue up, so no spending cuts in Budget 2011

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