Inflation is an important measure of any country’s economy, and the Retail Price Index (RPI) is one of the most widely used indicators in the United Kingdom, with the rate expected to be 4.1 percent in 2025, compared with 3.6 percent in 2024. This followed 2022, when RPI inflation reached a rate of 11.6 percent, by far the highest annual rate during this provided time period. Hitting fiscal targets, such as reducing the national debt, will require a careful balancing of the books from the current government, and the possibility for either spending cuts or tax rises. Less than a year after implementing cuts to Winter Fuel, the government performed a U-Turn on the issue, and will make it widely available by the winter of 2025.
- Inflation nevertheless remains elevated, fueled not only by high food inflation, but also by underlying core inflation.
- While the retail price index is still a popular method of calculating inflation, the consumer price index (CPI) is the current main measurement of inflation in the UK.
- Less than a year after implementing cuts to Winter Fuel, the government performed a U-Turn on the issue, and will make it widely available by the winter of 2025.
- During the most recent period of high inflation, core inflation peaked at 7.1 percent in May 2023, and while taking longer to fall than the overall figure, has generally been declining since then.
- Between 2021 and 2023, inflation surged in the UK, reaching a 41-year-high of 11.1 percent in October 2022.
National debt as a percentage of GDP in the UK 1900-2030
The most important key figures provide you with a compact summary of the topic of “The UK economy” and take you straight to the corresponding statistics. The most important key figures provide you with a compact summary of the topic of “The United Kingdom” and take you straight to the corresponding statistics. The most important key figures provide you with a compact summary of the topic of “UK GDP” and take you straight to the corresponding statistics. Unsurprisingly, the heat wave that spread across the British Isles in 2018 was the result of particularly sunny weather.
Annual inflation rate of the Consumer Price Index in the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2030
As of the most recent month, prices were rising fastest in the education sector, at 7.5percent, with prices increasing at the slowest rate in the clothing and footwear sector. One of the main consequences of high inflation and low wage growth throughout 2022 and 2023 was an increase in industrial action in the UK. In December 2022, for example, there were approximately 830,000 working days lost due to labor disputes.
Inflation nevertheless remains elevated, fueled not only by high food inflation, but also by underlying core inflation. As of February 2025, the overall CPI inflation rate was 2.8 percent, although an uptick in inflation is expected later in the year, with a rate of 3.7 percent forecast for the third quarter of the year. Another way of measuring inflation is to strip out the volatility of energy and food prices and look at the underlying core inflation rate.
As of December 2024, this was 3.2 percent, slightly higher than the overall CPI rate, but more aligned with the overall figure than it was in 2022 and 2023. When inflation peaked at 11.2 percent in October 2022, for example, core inflation stood at just 6.5 percent. After energy prices in 2023 fell relative to 2022, the overall inflation rate in the UK declined quite rapidly, with core inflation overtaking the overall rate in July 2023. During the most recent period of high inflation, core inflation peaked at 7.1 percent in May 2023, and while taking longer to fall than the overall figure, has generally been declining since then. Following the non gamstop casinos initial waves of the virus, global supply chains struggled to meet the renewed demand for goods and services.
In the three months to September 2025, average weekly earnings in the United Kingdom grew by 4.6 percent. In the same month, the inflation rate for the Consumer Price Index was 3.6 percent, indicating that wages were rising faster than prices that month. In 2024, the annual inflation rate for the United Kingdom was 2.5 percent, with the average rate for 2025 predicted to rise to 3.5 percent, revised upwards from an earlier prediction. The UK has only recently recovered from a period of elevated inflation, which saw the CPI rate reach 9.1 percent in 2022, and 7.3 percent in 2023. Despite an uptick in inflation in 2025, the inflation rate is expected to fall to 2.5 percent in 2026, and two percent between 2027 and 2029.