Chart of the Day: UK National Debt 1922 to Present

By Edward Harrison On Jul 1, 2011

As a result of the two great wars in the 20th century, the UK’s national debt soared such that by the end of World War II, public net debt was well over 200% of GDP. In the period after this, despite the modified gold standard of the Bretton Woods system, the UK was able to work these debt levels down to well under 50% of GDP.

How did the British do it? It was mostly through a combination of currency depreciation and inflation. 100 pounds in 1945 are worth approximately 3200 pounds in today’s money.

Source: Time Series Chart of UK Public Spending, ukpublicspending.co.uk

Edward Harrison 7783 posts 575 comments

Edward Harrison is a senior Editor at Bloomberg. He is also the founder of Credit Writedowns newsletter, a former career diplomat, investment banker and technology executive with over twenty five years of business experience. He speaks six languages and reads another five, skills he uses to provide a more global perspective. Edward holds an MBA in Finance from Columbia University and a BA in Economics from Dartmouth College.

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1 Comment

Dave Lee Travis says 13 years ago

And thats how they will do it again. unfortunately

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