UPDATED

UK GDP since 1955

Gross domestic product is the economic output of Britain. See how it has changed over time
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George Osborne - GDP
Revised GDP estimates from the Office for National Statistics shows that Britain's economy grew by 0.8% in the third quarter of 2013 - the the fastest pace in three years according to the ONS. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Britain's economy grew by 0.8% in the third quarter of 2013 - the fastest pace in three years according to the latest GDP release from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The preliminary estimate also shows that output increased on the quarter across all four main industrial groupings within the economy. Output increased by 1.4% in agriculture, 0.5% in production, 2.5% in construction and 0.7% in services, in quarter three of 2013 compared with the second quarter of the year.

Economics editor, Larry Elliott writes today:

Britain's economy is growing at its fastest rate in more than three years after a 0.8% increase in national output in the quarter to September.

The first stab at estimating the state of the economy from the Office for National Statistics found that activity had increased across the board with production, construction, services and agriculture all registering growth

Preliminary estimates are subject to change as more data becomes available although according to the ONS, "these are typically small between the preliminary and third estimates of GDP."

The data we have gathered shows percentage change in GDP going back to 1955 by quarter.

The spreadsheet to download shows GDP in cash, ie what it was that year not adjusted for inflation, total inflation-adjusted figures and per capita inflation adjusted figures.

And this is how it compares. While we are below the US and Japan - the UK is doing better than the rest of Europe.

The key points from the ONS release are:

• UK GDP was estimated to have increased by 0.8% between the second and third quarter of 2013
• Output increased in all four main industrial groupings within the economy in the third quarter of 2013 compared with the second quarter. Output increased by 1.4% in agriculture, 0.5% in production, 2.5% in construction, and 0.7% in services
• Output from services is now slightly above its previous peak in the first quarter of 2008, prior to the economic downturn
• In the third quarter of 2013 GDP was estimated to be 2.5% below the peak in the first quarter of 2008. From peak to trough in 2009, the economy shrank by 7.2%
• GDP was 1.5% higher in the third quarter of 2013 compared with the same quarter a year ago. The ONS urge us to remember though that the Olympics and Paralympics took place during the third quarter of 2012, raising the level of GDP in that quarter

You can find out who gets access to this data early too by clicking here.

GDP since 1955: roll over line for data

The first release by the ONS is just an estimate: we get one each month for the next two and it can be revised up or down (in the second estimate). The ONS explains:

At this stage it is estimated that the information content of this estimate is around 44% of the total required for the final output based estimate. This includes good information for the first two months of the quarter, with an estimate for the third month which takes account of early returns to the monthly business survey of 44,000 businesses (which typically has a response rate of between 30-50% at this point in time). The estimate is therefore subject to revisions as more data becomes available, but between the preliminary and third estimates of GDP, revisions are typically small (around 0.1 to 0.2 percentage points), with the frequency of upward and downward revisions broadly equal.

As several of our posters below have pointed out, there's more to life than GDP – but here are the latest GDP figures from the ONS for you to explore.

Data summary

UK GDP since 1955 and change

£m. Click heading to sort table. Download the data
Gross Domestic Product in Year, quarter
Gross Domestic Product: Quarter on Quarter Growth.
GDP, adjusted for inflation, £m
GDP, not adjusted for inflation £m
GDP per person, £m
GDP per person, £m, inc inflation
1955 Q1   85,937 4,749 93 1,688
1955 Q2 0.2 86,091 4,773 94 1,690
1955 Q3 2.1 87,877 4,941 97 1,723
1955 Q4 -0.6 87,384 5,027 98 1,711
1956 Q1 0.7 87,990 5,124 100 1,721
1956 Q2 -0.2 87,839 5,187 101 1,716
1956 Q3 -0.1 87,716 5,257 103 1,712
1956 Q4 0.5 88,182 5,387 105 1,719
1957 Q1 2.0 89,934 5,384 105 1,751
1957 Q2 0.0 89,941 5,463 106 1,749
1957 Q3 -0.6 89,408 5,573 108 1,737
1957 Q4 0.1 89,496 5,686 110 1,736
1958 Q1 1.7 91,021 5,760 112 1,764
1958 Q2 -2.5 88,733 5,673 110 1,718
1958 Q3 2.2 90,682 5,778 112 1,753
1958 Q4 0.1 90,811 5,839 113 1,753
1959 Q1 1.3 92,036 5,892 114 1,774
1959 Q2 1.5 93,405 6,085 117 1,798
1959 Q3 2.0 95,234 6,084 117 1,829
1959 Q4 2.4 97,489 6,287 121 1,869
1960 Q1 2.4 99,866 6,389 122 1,911
1960 Q2 -1.0 98,902 6,433 123 1,888
1960 Q3 1.5 100,352 6,512 124 1,912
1960 Q4 0.6 100,961 6,639 126 1,920
1961 Q1 1.7 102,671 6,782 129 1,948
1961 Q2 0.5 103,160 6,744 128 1,954
1961 Q3 -0.5 102,691 6,974 132 1,940
1961 Q4 -0.1 102,611 6,906 130 1,934
1962 Q1 0.6 103,213 7,000 132 1,941
1962 Q2 1.0 104,291 7,178 135 1,957
1962 Q3 0.7 105,004 7,250 136 1,967
1962 Q4 -0.4 104,634 7,279 136 1,957
1963 Q1 0.2 104,873 7,220 135 1,959
1963 Q2 4.3 109,357 7,584 141 2,039
1963 Q3 0.5 109,940 7,686 143 2,047
1963 Q4 2.3 112,483 7,919 147 2,090
1964 Q1 1.0 113,618 7,969 148 2,108
1964 Q2 1.6 115,389 8,235 153 2,137
1964 Q3 0.3 115,731 8,395 155 2,140
1964 Q4 1.6 117,591 8,622 159 2,171
1965 Q1 -0.1 117,435 8,781 162 2,164
1965 Q2 0.3 117,816 8,845 163 2,168
1965 Q3 1.0 119,048 9,051 166 2,187
1965 Q4 0.8 120,007 9,205 169 2,202
1966 Q1 0.3 120,419 9,332 171 2,207
1966 Q2 0.7 121,297 9,486 174 2,220
1966 Q3 0.5 121,850 9,640 176 2,227
1966 Q4 -0.3 121,465 9,727 177 2,216
1967 Q1 1.4 123,205 9,841 179 2,245
1967 Q2 1.3 124,814 10,089 184 2,271
1967 Q3 0.3 125,167 10,121 184 2,275
1967 Q4 0.3 125,503 10,225 186 2,278
1968 Q1 3.3 129,598 10,632 193 2,350
1968 Q2 -0.6 128,758 10,700 194 2,332
1968 Q3 2.0 131,272 11,036 200 2,375
1968 Q4 0.4 131,860 11,280 204 2,383
1969 Q1 0.1 132,011 11,471 207 2,383
1969 Q2 0.9 133,150 11,621 210 2,401
1969 Q3 0.7 134,034 11,839 213 2,415
1969 Q4 0.6 134,789 12,086 218 2,427
1970 Q1 -0.8 133,719 12,270 221 2,405
1970 Q2 2.3 136,840 12,742 229 2,460
1970 Q3 0.9 138,057 13,125 236 2,478
1970 Q4 0.7 139,036 13,558 243 2,493
1971 Q1 -0.9 137,749 13,754 246 2,466
1971 Q2 1.2 139,470 14,207 254 2,494
1971 Q3 1.5 141,523 14,672 262 2,529
1971 Q4 0.1 141,689 15,021 268 2,530
1972 Q1 0.2 141,916 15,232 272 2,532
1972 Q2 2.6 145,563 15,930 284 2,595
1972 Q3 0.3 145,999 16,244 289 2,601
1972 Q4 1.8 148,599 17,196 306 2,646
1973 Q1 5.3 156,439 18,294 326 2,784
1973 Q2 0.5 157,162 18,104 322 2,795
1973 Q3 -0.7 156,011 18,734 333 2,775
1973 Q4 -0.1 155,811 19,375 345 2,771
1974 Q1 -2.4 152,052 19,120 340 2,704
1974 Q2 1.9 154,986 20,622 367 2,756
1974 Q3 1.0 156,608 21,808 388 2,785
1974 Q4 -1.2 154,766 22,925 408 2,752
1975 Q1 0.3 155,267 24,700 439 2,761
1975 Q2 -1.6 152,801 26,067 464 2,718
1975 Q3 -0.2 152,538 27,208 484 2,713
1975 Q4 1.4 154,646 28,742 511 2,751
1976 Q1 1.7 157,276 30,129 536 2,798
1976 Q2 -0.9 155,904 30,746 547 2,773
1976 Q3 0.9 157,316 31,765 565 2,799
1976 Q4 2.1 160,559 33,697 600 2,857
1977 Q1 0.2 160,924 34,893 621 2,864
1977 Q2 -0.5 160,199 36,149 643 2,851
1977 Q3 0.8 161,461 37,258 663 2,874
1977 Q4 1.4 163,713 38,768 690 2,914
1978 Q1 0.5 164,467 40,357 718 2,927
1978 Q2 1.0 166,038 41,850 745 2,956
1978 Q3 1.1 167,850 42,930 764 2,987
1978 Q4 0.8 169,142 44,316 788 3,009
1979 Q1 -0.8 167,782 45,543 810 2,984
1979 Q2 4.3 175,007 48,723 866 3,112
1979 Q3 -2.3 170,928 51,186 910 3,038
1979 Q4 1.1 172,738 53,799 956 3,069
1980 Q1 -0.9 171,113 55,807 991 3,039
1980 Q2 -1.8 168,063 57,308 1,017 2,984
1980 Q3 -0.2 167,717 59,232 1,051 2,977
1980 Q4 -1.1 165,814 60,837 1,080 2,943
1981 Q1 -0.7 164,736 61,985 1,100 2,923
1981 Q2 0.2 165,021 63,069 1,119 2,928
1981 Q3 1.3 167,233 64,797 1,150 2,968
1981 Q4 0.0 167,254 66,589 1,182 2,969
1982 Q1 0.4 167,927 68,243 1,212 2,982
1982 Q2 1.3 170,084 69,616 1,237 3,022
1982 Q3 0.0 170,113 70,765 1,257 3,022
1982 Q4 0.5 171,042 72,626 1,290 3,038
1983 Q1 1.5 173,623 74,854 1,329 3,083
1983 Q2 0.8 175,022 75,484 1,340 3,108
1983 Q3 1.2 177,172 77,527 1,376 3,145
1983 Q4 1.2 179,381 79,560 1,412 3,183
1984 Q1 1.0 181,223 80,224 1,423 3,214
1984 Q2 -0.6 180,074 82,074 1,455 3,192
1984 Q3 0.5 180,991 82,710 1,465 3,207
1984 Q4 1.5 183,666 85,018 1,505 3,252
1985 Q1 1.2 185,949 86,929 1,538 3,290
1985 Q2 1.6 188,906 90,326 1,597 3,340
1985 Q3 0.0 188,937 91,308 1,614 3,339
1985 Q4 0.7 190,247 93,195 1,646 3,360
1986 Q1 1.7 193,474 94,821 1,674 3,415
1986 Q2 1.2 195,705 96,325 1,699 3,453
1986 Q3 0.6 196,886 97,701 1,723 3,472
1986 Q4 1.8 200,416 100,302 1,768 3,532
1987 Q1 0.7 201,814 102,669 1,808 3,555
1987 Q2 1.3 204,377 105,489 1,857 3,598
1987 Q3 2.4 209,271 109,626 1,929 3,682
1987 Q4 1.1 211,571 111,829 1,967 3,721
1988 Q1 1.8 215,403 115,398 2,029 3,786
1988 Q2 0.6 216,595 117,856 2,071 3,806
1988 Q3 1.4 219,721 121,639 2,136 3,858
1988 Q4 0.8 221,373 125,513 2,202 3,884
1989 Q1 0.3 222,112 128,108 2,246 3,894
1989 Q2 0.7 223,766 130,231 2,282 3,920
1989 Q3 0.3 224,456 133,393 2,335 3,930
1989 Q4 0.4 225,409 136,386 2,386 3,944
1990 Q1 1.2 228,070 139,449 2,438 3,987
1990 Q2 0.8 229,952 143,382 2,505 4,017
1990 Q3 -1.0 227,625 145,556 2,541 3,973
1990 Q4 -0.5 226,412 145,687 2,541 3,949
1991 Q1 -0.7 224,896 147,945 2,578 3,919
1991 Q2 -0.4 224,007 150,051 2,612 3,900
1991 Q3 -0.4 223,203 151,493 2,636 3,883
1991 Q4 0.2 223,735 153,913 2,676 3,890
1992 Q1 0.3 224,341 155,757 2,707 3,898
1992 Q2 0.1 224,510 156,626 2,720 3,899
1992 Q3 0.8 226,367 156,476 2,716 3,929
1992 Q4 0.9 228,306 158,907 2,756 3,960
1993 Q1 0.8 230,237 162,347 2,815 3,991
1993 Q2 0.6 231,643 163,407 2,831 4,014
1993 Q3 0.9 233,796 166,380 2,881 4,048
1993 Q4 0.8 235,776 168,696 2,919 4,080
1994 Q1 1.4 239,092 171,577 2,967 4,135
1994 Q2 1.3 242,279 173,351 2,996 4,187
1994 Q3 1.3 245,484 175,700 3,034 4,240
1994 Q4 0.7 247,225 179,941 3,105 4,267
1995 Q1 0.5 248,506 181,956 3,138 4,286
1995 Q2 0.5 249,847 184,079 3,172 4,306
1995 Q3 1.2 252,741 186,756 3,217 4,353
1995 Q4 0.5 253,956 189,055 3,254 4,371
1996 Q1 1.1 256,742 192,678 3,315 4,417
1996 Q2 0.4 257,815 196,492 3,378 4,433
1996 Q3 0.7 259,694 198,841 3,416 4,462
1996 Q4 0.9 262,092 200,375 3,441 4,500
1997 Q1 1.1 279,315 206,165 3,500 4,548
1997 Q2 1.0 282,613 209,611 3,555 4,591
1997 Q3 1.0 284,906 213,540 3,619 4,632
1997 Q4 1.1 288,003 216,104 3,650 4,680
1998 Q1 0.8 290,348 219,158 3,714 4,716
1998 Q2 0.7 292,562 221,164 3,740 4,747
1998 Q3 0.6 294,735 223,572 3,784 4,771
1998 Q4 0.9 297,672 228,377 3,850 4,810
1999 Q1 0.5 298,606 230,492 3,896 4,831
1999 Q2 0.3 298,657 230,637 3,900 4,842
1999 Q3 1.7 304,272 236,103 3,983 4,922
1999 Q4 1.3 308,317 241,151 4,052 4,983
2000 Q1 1.0 312,542 244,820 4,107 5,027
2000 Q2 1.4 315,650 245,063 4,130 5,094
2000 Q3 0.3 316,749 247,743 4,143 5,104
2000 Q4 0.2 317,688 249,513 4,174 5,111
2001 Q1 1.3 320,100 253,485 4,260 5,174
2001 Q2 0.7 322,235 256,273 4,294 5,203
2001 Q3 0.5 323,720 260,713 4,337 5,227
2001 Q4 0.4 324,161 261,261 4,353 5,241
2002 Q1 0.4 325,891 265,442 4,412 5,259
2002 Q2 0.8 328,303 267,898 4,482 5,298
2002 Q3 0.8 331,081 272,297 4,529 5,337
2002 Q4 0.9 334,554 275,828 4,582 5,382
2003 Q1 0.6 336,308 280,163 4,663 5,409
2003 Q2 1.2 340,795 284,608 4,742 5,469
2003 Q3 1.2 345,165 288,819 4,797 5,530
2003 Q4 1.2 349,680 294,934 4,871 5,589
2004 Q1 0.7 351,975 297,249 4,932 5,623
2004 Q2 0.2 353,516 301,827 4,988 5,630
2004 Q3 0.0 353,808 304,776 5,016 5,621
2004 Q4 0.6 356,183 309,116 5,096 5,647
2005 Q1 0.6 358,872 312,082 5,135 5,672
2005 Q2 1.2 363,550 317,621 5,214 5,733
2005 Q3 0.8 367,037 320,631 5,263 5,771
2005 Q4 1.1 371,811 326,409 5,336 5,824
2006 Q1 0.5 373,227 332,361 5,437 5,845
2006 Q2 0.3 374,520 334,826 5,451 5,854
2006 Q3 0.2 375,451 337,819 5,495 5,857
2006 Q4 0.9 378,330 344,477 5,603 5,902
2007 Q1 1.1 382,040 348,558 5,649 5,959
2007 Q2 1.2 386,977 354,519 5,759 6,023
2007 Q3 1.2 391,767 361,090 5,836 6,084
2007 Q4 0.2 392,205 363,722 5,890 6,085
2008 Q1 0.1 392,786 370,185 5,939 6,080
2008 Q2 -0.9 389,239 367,477 5,910 6,014
2008 Q3 -1.8 383,626 363,487 5,816 5,899
2008 Q4 -2.1 375,388 360,921 5,786 5,767
2009 Q1 -1.5 366,124 351,223 5,639 5,671
2009 Q2 -0.2 364,573 350,362 5,602 5,652
2009 Q3 0.4 364,557 355,960 5,675 5,664
2009 Q4 0.4 366,107 359,814 5,747 5,676
2010 Q1 0.6 368,033 366,807 5,812 5,699
2010 Q2 0.7 371,779 369,113 5,866 5,729
2010 Q3 0.6 373,275 374,379 5,914 5,753
2010 Q4 -0.4 372,529 375,316 5,941 5,717
2011 Q1 0.5 374,264 380,237 5,987 5,735
2011 Q2 0.1 374,628 381,379 5,983 5,729
2011 Q3 0.6 376,862 388,054 6,091 5,752
2011 Q4 -0.1 376,462 387,267 6,076 5,733
2012 Q1 0 376,436 389,508 6,044 5,718
2012 Q2 -0.5 374,550 386,910 6,040 5,685
2012 Q3 0.7 377,330 391,363 6,149 5,727
2012 Q4 -0.2 376,461 394,482 6,116 5,698
2013 Q1 0.3 377,467 398,204    
2013 Q2 0.7 380,172 399,834    
2013 Q3 0.8 382,818      

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DATA: UK GDP since 1948

• SOURCE: ONS

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