Austerity in Numbers From the Office of National Statistics

UK Government investment as a share of GDP was below the OECD average between 1997 and 2015, according to new analysis of OECD figures published today by ONS. In 2015, UK government investment equalled 2.6% of GDP, compared with an OECD average of 3.6%.

UK government investment as a share of GDP was the third lowest in the G7 in 2015, with Germany (2.1% of GDP) at the bottom. UK Non-government investment was also lower than the OECD average, although further analysis suggests countries with a smaller manufacturing sector often have lower levels of non-government investment. UK non-government investment equalled 14.0% of GDP in 2015, compared with 17.9% across the OECD as a whole. In 2015 non-government investment in the UK was the lowest in the G7 as a share of GDP, with Canada at the top.

However, UK non-government investment has grown more strongly than in other G7 countries in recent years, increasing from 12.0% of GDP in 2009 to 14.0% in 2015.