Real national debt hits £180,534 per person

Embargoed: 00:01 Friday 8th March 2024

• The UK’s real national debt is much higher than suggested by Wednesday’s budget figures, at £12.1 trillion in 2024-25. This is over £180,000 per person
  
  
• The total debt, which includes PFI and pension liabilities, is more than four times the size of the UK economy and is more than the economic output of Africa, Central America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand combined
  
  
• The real national debt has grown from £9.6 trillion, or £143,000 per person since 2021, when this research was last released. This is an increase of 25 per cent

Using data released in the chancellor’s budget on Wednesday, the TaxPayers’ Alliance have found that the real national debt will reach £12.1 trillion in 2024-25. It means our national debt will be over four times larger than the economy. 

The real national debt is equivalent to £430,332 per household, over 6 times more than the average household debt including mortgages according to the Money Charity. It is also the equivalent of every person in the UK being saddled with £180,534 of debt.

The real national debt is over four times larger than official forecasts, which put the figure at £2.8 trillion in the budget, and is more than the economic output of Africa, Central America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand combined, which is £11.8 trillion. That is because the real national debt estimates include areas of future spending that are not formally recognised in the official figures published in government accounts or by the ONS. These are unfunded state pension liabilities, unfunded public sector pension scheme liabilities, private finance initiative, and nuclear decommissioning costs.

Since the last time this research was produced, in 2021, the real national debt has grown from £9.6 trillion to £12.1 trillion, an increase of 25 per cent. Liabilities for public sector pensions alone have grown from £1.8 trillion to £2.9 trillion, an increase of over 60 per cent.

Table: estimated UK real national debt, 2021-22

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Key findings:

• In 2024-25 the real national debt will be £12.1 trillion. This is more than the economic output of Africa, Central America, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand combined, which total £11.8 trillion.
• The real national debt, in 2024-25, is equivalent to more than four times the size of the UK economy or 434 per cent of forecast nominal GDP.
• On a per household basis, the real national debt will equate to £430,332 in 2024-25. On a per person basis, it is £180,534
• The weight of the number of one pound coins equivalent to the real national debt would be almost 18 times more than that of the Great Pyramid of Giza

READ THE BRIEFING NOTE

Darwin Friend, head of research at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said:

"The surge in interest rates has made a mockery of those who told us not to worry about the size of the national debt.

“And the horrifying reality that politicians are failing to confront is that there are vast and growing liabilities that are hidden in the small print of Britain’s ballooning bill.

“With debt interest already a huge drain on the Treasury, there is an urgent need to ensure we aren’t passing on the bill for today’s spending to tomorrow’s taxpayers.”

TPA spokespeople are available for live and pre-recorded broadcast interviews via 07795 084 113 (no texts)

Media contact:

Elliot Keck
Head of Campaigns, TaxPayers' Alliance
[email protected]
24-hour media hotline: 07795 084 113 (no texts)

Notes to editors:

1. Founded in 2004 by Matthew Elliott and Andrew Allum, the TaxPayers' Alliance (TPA) campaigns to reform taxes and public services, cut waste and speak up for British taxpayers. Find out more at www.taxpayersalliance.com.
   
   
2. TaxPayers' Alliance's advisory council.
   
   
3. The TPA at 20 is a series of releases based on previous research produced by the TaxPayers’ Alliance during its 20 year history.