UK Total Government Debt in the 20th Century

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For numbers from 1900-2011 click here.

The National Debt began the 20th century at about 30 percent of GDP. It jerked above 150 percent in World War I and stayed high. Debt breached 200 percent during World War II. Debt declined to 50 percent of GDP by the 1970s and dipped to 25 percent by 1990. The National Debt began a rapid increase in the aftermath of the worldwide financial crisis of 2008.

UK Total Government Debt since 1692

Click chart for briefing on Total Government Debt.
For numbers from 1692-2011 click here.

The National Debt began when William III engaged a syndicate of City merchants to market an issue of government debt. The syndicate became the Bank of England, and HM government debt began a century-long climb, financing Marlborough’s wars, wars against the French, against the North American colonial rebels, and peaking in 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars at over 200 percent of GDP. After the war the debt entered a century-long decline. Government debt exploded in World War I and again in World War II where it reached the level of 1815 at over 200 percent of GDP. Debt declined below 50 percent of GDP by the 1970s.