UK Economy Health

## What this measures

One reading of UK economic health built from official series: real GDP growth (20%), the unemployment rate (15%, lower is better), the employment rate (10%), how far CPI inflation sits from 2% (15%, closer is better), individual insolvencies (12-month average, 10%, lower is better), retail sales volume growth (10%), real pay growth (10%) and mortgage approvals (12-month average, 10%). Each is placed as a percentile of its own monthly history since January 1998; the composite is the weighted average of the components with data that month, rescaled so 0 is the weakest month in the record and 100 the strongest.

## Why it matters

It puts growth, jobs, prices, household strain and demand on one scale, measured against the UK economy's own record. It is built the same way as Canada Economy Health (canada.economy_health), so the four North American and UK readings can be read side by side.

## How to read it

Around 50 is an ordinary month by the country's own standard. As of October 2026 the weakest month in the record is August 2011 (0), not the 2009 recession: in 2011 inflation reached 5%, real pay fell about 3% and individual insolvencies peaked, the sharpest squeeze on UK households in the period. The strongest is May 2021 (100), when growth and retail sales were measured against the 2020 lockdown. A reading is published when at least 75% of the weight has data. The UK has no licensable official business survey, so retail sales and real pay stand in for the demand and business pillars used for other countries. Individual insolvencies have reached record highs partly because of changes in the debt-solutions industry, which pulls recent readings down.

## What it does not say

Each country is scored against itself: 60 in one country and 60 in another mean an equally good month by each one's own record, not equally strong economies. It is not a forecast and not a Custom Index. Percentiles use the full record, so the whole history is re-expressed as new data arrive; the anchors move if a new extreme arrives.

## Source

Computed daily by Palanor. Inputs: Office for National Statistics, Bank of England (mortgage approvals) and the Insolvency Service, all licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.