Fact Service January 2020

Issue 48

UK's net worth falls

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released its estimates of the national balance sheet for 2020 – essentially a measure of the UK’s wealth.

They show that the UK recorded a net worth of £10 trillion in 2019, an average of £150,000 per person. Net worth fell by 1.3%, or £128 billion, between 2018 and 2019, the weakest annual performance since 2012.

General government’s net worth fell by 12.8% or £112 billion to negative £989 billion in that period, the result of falling financial net worth outpacing a moderate increase in non-financial net worth (financial net worth fell by nearly 80% or £255 billion to minus £579 billion in 2019).

Produced assets, which include the value of fixed assets such as buildings, machinery and inventories, have grown by an average of 3.5% from 2010 to 2019 compared with 5.7% from 1995 to 2007. Produced assets grew by 3.9% in 2019 and reduced the decline in UK net worth.

https://www.ons.gov.uk/releases/theuknationalbalancesheetestimates2020