Double-digit fall in the British economy in 2020

The UK demonstrated extreme economic failure in 2020. Figure 1 shows that the real GDP per capita in the UK has been growing at a healthy pace since 2009.  In 2019, it topped at $44,080 (constant 2015 US dollars) as reported in the OECD database. In 2020, the extremely inefficient response to the COVID-19 pandemic almost killed the British economy and the curve in Figure 1 fell to $39,496, i.e. by $4,584 (see Figure 2).

If to convert the absolute fall in the real GDP per capita into the relative fall one obtains 11.6% (see Figure 3), i.e. much larger than 7.55% observed in Austria and 9.3% in France. The COVID-19 situation in 2021 gives some positive signals with the accelerating rate of vaccination. The UK has a good long-term perspective if to judge by the period between 2009 and 2019.  

 

Figure 1. Evolution of real GDP per capita in the UK according to the OECD database.

Figure 2. Evolution of real GDP per capita in the UK according to the OECD database. The 2020 fall is $4584 (constant 2015 US dollars). 

 

Figure 3. Evolution of the growth rate in real GDP per capita in the UK according to the OECD database. The 2020 fall is 11.6%.