UK national debt, estimated live
Over £3 trillion
Over three trillion pounds of government debt, updated live
This is gross debt: everything central and local government owes, with no assets subtracted. It is the measure used for international comparisons by the EU and IMF. Every debt figure on this page uses it. The ONS headline measure, net debt, subtracts cash and other liquid assets.
The clock starts from the latest official ONS figure and adds debt at the rate the OBR forecasts for this year, plus this year's overspend so far. It is an estimate between monthly releases, not an official figure.
The story in four steps
1 Step 1 of 4 · The debt
How big is the debt?
How big is the UK national debt?
UK government debt in household terms, and how it was built up over the decades.
The debt keeps rising
Gross debt at the end of each financial year. Faded bars are the OBR's forecast.
Show the numbers
Where it came from: borrowing by period
Read from top to bottom. Each bar is one period's borrowing (spending minus income) and starts where the previous one ended, so together they add up to today's debt, shown in blue at the bottom. The financial crisis and Covid account for the biggest jumps, but borrowing has stayed high since.
Show the numbers
Your household's share
Change the number of people in your home to see your share of the debt and of the yearly interest bill.
This is the debt divided by everyone in the UK. Nobody gets a bill for it. It is paid through taxes and through spending that does not happen.
2 Step 2 of 4 · The cost
What does the debt cost us?
What the debt costs in interest
The yearly interest bill on the national debt, and what that money could pay for instead.
The interest bill
Show the numbers
The opportunity cost: what the interest could pay for instead
Show the numbers
3 Step 3 of 4 · The drivers
Why does the government keep borrowing?
What is driving government borrowing
Spending against income, and welfare spending on pensions, health and disability and other working-age benefits.
Spending vs income
Total managed expenditure and public sector receipts, as a share of GDP. The gap between the lines is borrowing.
Show the numbers
Welfare spending by who receives it
UK welfare spending. Faded bars are the DWP/OBR forecast.
Show the numbers
Pensioner benefits
Show the numbers
Working-age and child benefits
Show the numbers
Fastest-growing areas since 2019-20
Spending in 2019-20 and 2026-27, in today's prices (adjusted for inflation using the GDP deflator). Real growth is the rise above inflation.
4 Step 4 of 4 · The outlook
Where is it heading?
Where UK debt is heading under current plans
The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast under current plans, compared with the recent trend.
Debt: the OBR's forecast and the recent trend
Gross debt as a share of GDP. The blue dashed line is the OBR forecast based on the government's current plans. The orange dashed line is the recent trend: this year's overspend so far, then pensioner, health and disability, and other working-age benefits each growing at their 2019-20 to 2025-26 pace. See below for how it is calculated.
Show the numbers
Risks to the forecast: welfare and this year's overspend
Pensioner benefits
Health and disability benefits
Other working-age benefits
Show the numbers
Conclusion
What it all adds up to
The bottom line
About this site
The UK Debt Clock is an independent, non-partisan explainer. It takes no money, runs no ads and sets no cookies. Every figure comes from official statistics, and the code and data are open on GitHub. The data updates each month after the ONS public finances release.
Spotted an error, or want to get in touch? Raise it on GitHub. Corrections are welcome.
Sources and method
How the figures are calculated
- Debt everywhere on the page is general government gross debt (Maastricht definition): ONS series BKPX for the latest month, and the OBR public finances databank for yearly outturn and forecasts. The live share of GDP is measured against the GDP implied by the ONS net debt ratio.
- The clock starts from the latest ONS month-end figure. It then adds debt at the recent-trend rate for the current financial year: the OBR's forecast rise in debt, plus this year's overspend against the OBR forecast so far, scaled up to a full year. It is an estimate between monthly releases, not an official figure.
- The clock shows gross debt: general government consolidated gross debt on the Maastricht definition (ONS series BKPX). It adds the OBR's forecast rise in gross debt for the current year plus this year's overspend. Its share of GDP is measured against the same GDP as the ONS net debt figure. The per-person, per-household and household calculator figures at the top also use gross debt.
- Live debt-to-GDP divides the clock by an estimate of GDP now. That GDP estimate starts from the GDP implied by the latest ONS debt ratio and grows at the OBR's forecast cash GDP growth for the current year. The changes are shown in percentage points of GDP.
- Recent trend starts from the OBR forecast. For the current year it adds the overspend in borrowing so far, scaled up to a full year. For later years it adds the cost of three non-overlapping benefit groups (pensioner, health and disability, and other working-age benefits) growing at their 2019-20 to 2025-26 rate above inflation, instead of the OBR's rate. Interest on the extra debt is charged at the effective rate in the OBR forecast. It illustrates one risk. It is not a forecast.
- Per person uses the ONS mid-2025 UK population. Per household uses the ONS 2025 households estimate.
- Interest is central government debt interest, net of the Bank of England's Asset Purchase Facility. This is the OBR's measure. It counts what the government actually pays out, including inflation uplift on index-linked gilts.
- Welfare is total UK welfare spending as defined in the OBR's Economic and Fiscal Outlook. That includes DWP benefits, Child Benefit, tax credits and Northern Ireland social security. Pensioner, working-age and children splits follow DWP's benefit summary table (Great Britain, DWP benefits).
- Today's prices means 2026-27 prices, using the OBR's GDP deflator.
- Visitor statistics: this site counts page views anonymously with Cloudflare Web Analytics. It sets no cookies and does not track individual visitors.
- Opportunity cost compares the 2025-26 interest bill with the top-level spending functions in HM Treasury's PESA 2026 (Table 5.2, 2025-26 outturn, UK-wide, all levels of government). Only top-level functions are used, so no area is counted twice. "Welfare and social care" is the Social protection function. "Running government" is General public services minus public debt transactions, which is where debt interest sits.