The UK demonstrated extreme economic failure in 2020. Figure 1 shows that the real GDP per capita in the UK has been growing at a healthy pace since 2009. In 2019, it topped at $44,080 (consistent with 2015 US dollars) as reported in the OECD database. In 2020, the extremely inefficient response to the COVID-19 pandemic almost killed the British economy, and the curve in Figure 1 fell to $39,496, i.e. by $4,584 (see Figure 2).

If one were to convert the absolute fall in the real GDP per capita into the relative fall, one would obtain the figure of 11.6% (see Figure 3), which is much larger than the 7.55% observed in Austria and the 9.3% in France. The COVID-19 situation in 2021 gives off some positive signals due to the accelerating rate of vaccination. The UK has a good long-term perspective if one were to judge by the period between 2009 and 2019.

Figure 1. Evolution of real GDP per capita in the UK according to the OECD database.

Figure 2. Evolution of real GDP per capita in the UK according to the OECD database. The 2020 fall is $4584 (consistent with 2015 US dollars). 

Figure 3. Evolution of the growth rate in real GDP per capita in the UK according to the OECD database. The 2020 fall is 11.6%.