Is Britain still great? Here’s what the data says

However, if we adjust for the relative prices of things in each country, or “purchasing power’, Britain falls to tenth, behind countries including Indonesia, France, Brazil and Russia. This is because, while Britain may be wealthy in cash terms, it is expensive to buy or make things here.

But the overall size of the economy is not a good measure of how rich the people in a country are. For that, economists use GDP per capita. Adjusted for purchasing power, Britain has a GDP per capita of $63,759, placing us 33rd in the world, down from 25th in 1980. By 2030, thanks to an up-and-coming Lithuania and Czech Republic, the IMF thinks we will slip to 35th.

If those rankings feel low, then remember that there are a lot of small, rich microstates in the IMF’s database (tiny Liechtenstein jostles with Singapore and Luxembourg for the top spot).

If we look only at the countries with more than five million people, Britain is 21st out of 120. Within the G7, we are fifth, ahead of only Japan and Italy. But given rising unemployment and economic inactivity, and higher inflation than our neighbours, UK growth forecasts for the next few years are sluggish.

Verdict: still a top ten economy, although not because our citizens are rich.
★★★☆☆

Military

According to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), Britain spent a total of $81 billion on its defence in 2024. This puts us in a commendable fifth place globally, behind Germany ($86 billion), Russia ($146 billion), China ($235 billion) and the US, which spends $968 billion.

Here, though, currency conversions flatter us a little. Although Russia spends less than double in US dollars, it actually gets about six times as much military gear for the price.

What do we get for all that money? It is certainly not people. The UK has about 141,000 active military personnel, placing it 34th in the world, according to the IISS. Or, put another way, while we are about 0.87 per cent of the world’s population, Britain’s armed forces make up just 0.68 per cent of the world’s total active combatants.

Britain makes up for it in terms of equipment and standing. With 210, it has the 19th highest number of combat-ready aircraft. Its navy has 14 destroyers and frigates, placing it in 12th place. Britain is also one of only seven nations with aircraft carriers, one of nine nuclear-armed states, a founding Nato member and a world leader in stealth and precision weapons.

Verdict: a great military power, just not when it comes to troop numbers.
★★★★☆

Health

For much of the 20th century, European countries were considerably healthier than the rest of the world. Today, that gap has closed. British life expectancy is 81.2, placing us 29th in the world for countries with more than one million people.

Our child mortality rate, a key development indicator, is about 4.5 deaths per 1,000 under-fives, the 40th lowest in the world. This is more than double the rate in Estonia (2.1), but well below the US (6.5).

Suicide rates, however, are higher, at 9.6 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to the latest comparative World Bank data. This is the 72nd highest rate globally, one of the few measures for which Britain is in the wrong half, although data coverage in some countries may be unreliable.

Britain is also in the worst half for cancer mortality, with 98.3 deaths per 100,000 people in 2022, according to the World Cancer Research Fund, the 63rd highest rate in the world. This is a higher rate than the US (81.8), but it is likely to be influenced by the fact that Britain is better at identifying cancers than many other nations.

Verdict: middling, with some worrying trends.
★★★☆☆

Safety

The impression that Britain is a lawless country has taken hold in some circles, including the White House. But out of the 107 moderately sized countries with homicide rates recorded since 2020, Britain ranks 70th, with 1.1 murders per 100,000 people. The US is 31st.

Comparing crime rates between countries is notoriously hard, simply because different police forces have very different counting measures.

But here, public perception broadly matches objective reality. According to the Gallup World Poll of 144 countries, 76 per cent of British people feel safe walking alone, placing us joint 45th in the world.

France (73 per cent), the US (71 per cent) and Italy (60 per cent) all rank lower. The percentage who felt safe in Singapore, the country with one of the lowest murder rates in the world, was 98 per cent.

Verdict: reasonably safe.
★★★★☆

Influence

The typical argument in favour of British greatness is our global influence and access, which are difficult things to measure.

One approach is to look at the strength of passports. The wealth management company Henley & Partners has calculated how many countries can be visited visa-free by different passport holders. Top of the list is the Singaporean passport, which grants visa-free access to 193 nations.

Britain sits in joint 24th with access to 184 nations, behind most EU countries, who have visa-free access to 187.

In reputation terms, Britain punches above its economic weight. Brand Finance, a marketing consultancy, publishes a global soft power index based on polling of national recognition, influence and favourability. Britain remarkably places third this year after the US and China.

Another soft power index, this time focusing on the education of world leaders, found that Britain had educated 59 world leaders, only seven fewer than the US.

Spotify streaming data suggests UK artists are responsible for 10 per cent of all streams globally.

Verdict: punching above our weight.
★★★★★

Happiness

Every year the World Happiness Report surveys thousands of people around the world about how satisfied they are with their lives, giving each country a rank.

Finland usually comes top, and this year was no different. Britain did not do too badly, placing 21st among nations with more than a million people. We have fallen a few places since 2019, but are still ahead of the US (22nd), France (30th), Spain (35th) and many of our other neighbours.

One plausible explanation could be that British people have somehow mastered the work-life balance. A study in 2025 found that British workers averaged 1,523 hours a year, the 14th fewest hours in the world. We may work harder than the Germans (1,335), but spare a thought for those in China (2,328).

Another factor could be our relative generosity. Sixty-seven per cent of British people donated money to a charitable cause in 2024, according to the Charities Aid Foundation, making us the seventh most generous country in the world.

Verdict: surprisingly upbeat, given everything.
★★★★☆

For more by The Times data team, visit thetimes.com/data. What measures would you have included? Let us know in the comments.