The United Kingdom's economy is considered “moderately free” according to the 2025 Index. The British economy has been undergoing a period of challenge. The state has expanded dramatically in scope, and more committed reforms are needed for the economy to recover.
Economists and analysts at Cambridge Econometrics found that, by 2035, the UK is anticipated to have three million fewer jobs, 32% lower investment, 5% lower exports and 16% lower imports, than it would have had been. The report states that the UK will be £311bn worse off by 2035 due to leaving EU.
Between 2000 and 2013, the UK's rating held steady at 88. Over the past decade, however, the downward trend has become clear. By 2014 it had slipped to 87, and from 2019 onwards the decline accelerated, falling from 85 that year to 79 in the latest report.
Many economists and politicians are concerned that the UK economy is not growing fast enough. When the Labour government took power in July 2024, it made growth its top priority. The economy had fallen into recession at the end of 2023 but rebounded in the first half of 2024. Since then, growth has been sluggish.
Singapore continues to be the world's freest economy, demonstrating a consistently high level of economic resilience and prosperity. Switzerland is the world's second freest economy, followed by Ireland.
Least free were Syria (3.79), Venezuela (3.80), and Yemen (4.30). The components on which the index is based can be divided into economic freedoms and other personal freedoms. Highest ranking in economic freedoms were Hong Kong (8.91) and Singapore (8.71).
The US is the biggest economy in the world. Its current GDP stands at a staggering $30.507 trillion. The GDP per capita in the US is $89,105. China is the second-largest economy in the world, with a GDP of $19.231 trillion.
“The decline in living standards over recent years has been stark – 7.5 million more people are living in households with inadequate incomes in 2022-23 than were in 2008-09.
There have been two phases to the UK's low productivity. From 2008 until 2019, British productivity stagnated relative to pre-Recession trends, but this was also true for many developed nations. Since 2019, however, it has stalled further, and other countries have begun to leave the UK behind.
Debt is the total amount owed by the government which has accumulated over the years. Debt is therefore a much larger sum of money. At the end of 2023/24 public sector net debt was £2,686 billion (i.e. £2.7 trillion), or 96% of GDP. This is equivalent to around £39,300 per person in the UK.
According to the Cato Institute's Human Freedom Index, the top 10 “free” countries are: Switzerland, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Ireland, Australia, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and, tied at 9th, the Netherlands, and the UK. The United States is 17th.
The US, Russia and China have the world's most powerful militaries while the UK comes in seventh, according to annual rankings produced by a defence sector analyst. Global Firepower's 2024 Military Strength Rankings evaluated 145 countries, assessing them based on their military capabilities.
Process. Potential enlargement of the European Union is governed by Article 49 of the Maastricht Treaty. If the UK applied to rejoin the EU, it would need to apply and have its application terms supported unanimously by the EU member states.
The UK was a key asset for the EU in the fields of foreign affairs and defence given that the UK was (with France) one of the EU's two major military powers, and had significant intelligence capabilities, soft power and a far reaching diplomatic network. Without the UK, EU foreign policy could be less influential.
Since 2021, however, EU net migration has been negative, according to official estimates (-96,000 in 2024). While the emigration of international students has been rising, they became more likely to stay in the UK since Brexit, contributing more to net migration than they had done in the past.
First world countries included Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States, among others. Today, the term has fallen somewhat out of favor, as critics argue it is an outmoded model for understanding national development.
England's decline began in the interwar years between World War I and World War II. To all appearances, England was still a great world power. The sun never set on the British flag; indeed, it had less chance of doing so in the interwar years than before.
This more optimistic take is reflected in consensus forecasts for the UK economy. Independent forecasters expect growth to pick up from around 0.8% in 2024 to 1.3% in 2025. But this would still be less than the 2% assumed by the OBR for the Budget.
At the time of writing, the UK's inflation rate is at a 40-year high, which has left plenty of the country's population feeling the pinch. The cost of living UK crisis represents a drop in disposable income for households due to rising energy and fuel costs, as well as supermarket prices.
By 2030, the UK will have the fastest growing and second largest population in Europe: This growth will vary across geographies. England's population is projected to grow by 5.0%, with much of this focused in the South East.
What city in the UK has the highest quality of life?
Manchester is and always has been a great place for living life to the full – that's part of the reason it was voted the Most Liveable City in the UK (The Economist, 2019) and the 3rd Best City in the World (TimeOut, 2021).
The following 44 countries were still listed as least developed countries by the UN as of December 2024: Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, ...
The Future Economic Giants: Largest Economies in the World 2050. China: With its fast economic growth and development, China is all set to lead the world's economy.
