The Latest UK Debt Statistics & Facts

The above figure is equivalent to 100.5% of the country’s GDP. Moreover, the deficit of the UK’s general government for the same period is £24.4 billion, which is equivalent to 3.8% of its GDP. It should be noted that the UK’s debt, seen as the % of its GDP, is at the lower end when looking at the last couple (post-Corona) years..

(ONS)

According to the G7 debt statistics, the Italy had the highest general government deficit to GDP ratio, with 8%. At the same time, the UK still had a 0.7 percentage point lower ratio than the G7 average of 5.4%. However, UK’s current deficit to GDP ratio is higher than the EU average of 3.5%.

(ONS)

EU debt statistics for 2023 show that the average general government debt for the 27 states of the European Union is 83.7% of their GDPs. The only EU member states with a higher general government debt to GDP ratio are Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece.

(ONS)

The lion’s share of the above amount, or £1.62 trillion, is secured mortgage debt, while £213.9 billion is unsecured consumer debt. Credit card debt accounts for more than a fourth of the unsecured consumer debt, or £66.0 billion. The statistics also show that the total personal debt in the UK had increased by £40 billion compared to the number from 2022, when the UK’s total personal debt was £1.8 trillion.

(The Money Charity)

Household debt statistics for the UK also reveal that the average British household owes £57,910 of secured debt, including mortgages. In addition, the average household in the UK has £7,619 in unsecured personal debt, £2,350 of which is credit card debt. Furthermore, the data suggests that the average British household pays £2,227 of interest annually, which accounts for 3.51% of its yearly income. Finally, the future projections show that the average total household debt in the United Kingdom will reach £86,994 by 2025.

(The Money Charity)

Data on the average personal debt in the UK also reveals that the above figure is higher than the average yearly income of UK adults, or more precisely, it accounts for 110.1% of their annual earnings. The latest data also suggests that the average Briton owes £30,574 in mortgages and £4,022 in unsecured consumer debt. Furthermore, only £1,241 of their total personal debt is credit card debt. Collectively, British adults pay £171 million worth of interest per day and £62,536 million per year.

(The Money Charity)

UK debt statistics show that there were 27,077 individual insolvencies in these two countries just in the three-month period between April and June of 2023. The data indicates a decrease

of 8.9% compared to the 29,709 insolvencies in the same period in 2022. Crunching these numbers shows us that an average of 298 people went insolvent every day, or one person went insolvent every four minutes and 50 seconds in England and Wales between April and June of 2023.

(The Money Charity)

Debt data for the UK suggests that an average of 5.3 people from Northern Ireland went insolvent every day in the same month. However, the data also shows that the individual insolvencies in Northern Ireland between April and June 2023 were 4.1% higher than the same period in the previous year. Individual insolvencies were on the rise in Scotland as well, where 1,912 personal insolvencies were recorded between January and March of 2023. This number is 0.8% higher than the number of insolvencies in the same period of the year before.

(The Money Charity)

The data reveals that the total outstanding mortgage debt in the UK has increased by £33.7 billion, from £1.592 trillion in 2022 to £1.626 trillion in 2023. Additionally, the average mortgage interest rate for households with outstanding debt was 2.83% at the end of June 2023, which means they will pay an average interest of £4,230 over the year. The interest rate for new buyers, however, is higher at 4.57%, so the average UK mortgage debt interest for first-time buyers will be £8,401.

(The Money Charity)

Even though the above figure indicates a slight increase compared to the 63,200 approvals in the previous month, historical data shows that the numbers are still well below the pre-pandemic average of 66,800 approvals in February 2020. The approvals for remortgaging, however, are getting closer to their numbers from before COVID. There were 48,400 approvals for remortgaging in July, considerably more than the 43,300 recorded in June and only slightly fewer than the 49,500 in February 2020, as per the latest UK personal debt stats.

(Bank of England)

Another 28.7% of them are aged between 45 and 54, which means collectively, adults between 35 and 54 account for more than half, or 58.4%, of the homeowners who buy their houses with a mortgage in the UK. Additionally, 22.5% of the mortgage buyers are aged between 25 and 34, 13.7% are between 55 and 64, 4.1% are older than 65, and only 1.4% are between 16 and 24.

(Statista)

The statistics from previous years show that the UK average credit card spending has been steadily increasing, from £476 in May 2020 to £651 in May 2021, before it reached £753 in May 2022, and finally £800 in 2023. This is not surprising, considering the number of banks and authorised payment providers there are in the UK (43 UK building societies, 6 credit unions, and around 350 banks). Additionally, the average credit card balance of British consumers is currently £1,675, which is a 7.7% increase from the year before, while the average credit limit is £5,565, indicating a 1.2% year-on-year increase. The latest statistics on credit card debt in the UK also show that 1.59% of all accounts missed a single payment, while 0.3% missed two and 0.2% missed three payments.

(FICO)

The stats suggest that this is the highest annual growth rate of credit card borrowing in the country since October 2005, when it was 13.7%. Moreover, UK consumers borrowed £1.8 billion in June and £1.4 billion in July, which is considerably higher than the pre-pandemic average of £1 billion reported in February 2020. Data on UK consumer debt also shows that the additional £1.4 billion borrowed in July was evenly split between £700 million on credit cards and £700 million on other types of consumer credit such as car dealerships and personal loans.

(Bank of England)

The use of credit cards to cover living necessities is the most common among Britons aged between 25 and 34, 36.09% of which cite this as the main reason they use their cards. Additionally, data on unsecured debt in the UK reveals that 29.81% of British consumers cover their day-to-day expenses, such as groceries, with their credit cards. By region, using credit cards to cover the costs of living is the most common in Northern Ireland, where 37% of the consumers say they feel the need to rely on credit cards for everyday life purchases.

(Credit-Connect)

A 2022 survey on personal debt in the UK reveals that 26% of Britons used their savings to cover their living costs. Additionally, 28% say they struggled to pay their bills, while 8% struggled to pay for their housing. By age, the largest percentage, or 23%, of the people who say they had to use credit or borrow money are from the 30 to 49 age group, while 30% of those who say they struggled to pay their bills are between 50 and 69 years old.

(ONS)

The statistics on consumer debt in the UK show that, at 13%, women are more likely to say they are using credit more usual than men, 10% of whom agree with this statement. The increased usage of credit is the most common among consumers between 30 and 49 years of age, 16% of whom say that this is the case. In comparison, 14% of Britons between 16 and 29, 9% between 50 and 69, and only 4% of those over 70 say they use credit more than usual.

(ONS)

UK personal debt statistics further reveal that 2% of British consumers borrowed between £5,000 and £9,999 more, and 6% between £3,000 and £4,999 more this year compared to the previous. Additionally, borrowing for 3% of consumers has grown by between £2,000 and £2,999, for 12% between £1,000 and £1,999, and 6% of the consumers borrowed between £750 and £999 more in 2022 than they did in 2021. Finally, 11% borrowed between £500 and £749 more, 21% between £250 and £499 more, and 26% borrowed up to £250 more this year than the last.

(ONS)