Public finances in one image
Debt, deficit and the cost of servicing what the state has borrowed.
UK Facts · Public finances
Debt interest now costs more than defence.
Debt, borrowing and debt interest are three different things, and confusing them is how most arguments about the public finances go wrong.
- 93.7% of GDPnational debtA STOCK — everything owed, measured against the size of the economy
- 4.2% of GDPannual borrowingA FLOW — how much was added in one year. £128bn in 2025-26
- £109.3bndebt interestThe annual cost of servicing the stock — more than the defence budget
Public sector net debt as a share of GDP, end of each financial year, 2010-11 to 2025-26.
Provisional from 2025 — Latest year provisional.
High by recent standards, not unprecedented
Debt rose from 70.6% of GDP in 2010-11 to 95.4% after COVID and has been broadly flat since. It has been far higher in British history, particularly after both world wars. But debt-to-GDP measures debt against the economy, not against ability to pay it down — and higher interest costs do constrain what any government can choose to spend on.
Read this carefully: A debt-to-GDP ratio does not mean the government has run out of money, and a falling ratio does not mean debt was repaid — the economy growing has the same effect. Figures exclude public sector banks, the standard headline measure; a different measure excluding the Bank of England gives a materially different picture.
United Kingdom · 2025-26 (provisional) · Data as at 21 July 2026
Source: ONS, Public sector finances (HF6X); OBR databank · uk-statpack.co.uk
See debt, borrowing and interest costs separately →UK Facts · Public finances
94.1%
Public debt as a share of GDP
End July 2026 · United Kingdom. Public sector net debt excluding public sector banks; comparable to the early 1960s, not wartime levels.
ONS Public sector finances · verified 2026-08-21
4.2% of GDP
Budget deficit
Public sector net borrowing, 2025
ONS, Public sector finances (series J5II); OBR Public Finances Databank
£109.3bn
Debt interest
Annual cost, 2025
OBR Public Finances Databank (central government debt interest, net of APF)
Figures cover different geographies and reporting periods. Open the full analysis for definitions and caveats before quoting any of them.
Generated from the same verified stat registry and chart datasets as the rest of the site.