for 12% of GDP, one of the highest shares of any industrial
nation. Services, particularly banking, insurance, and business
services, account by far for the largest proportion of GDP while
industry continues to decline in importance, now employing only 18% of
the work force. Exports and manufacturing output have been the primary
engines of growth. Unemployment is gradually falling. Inflation is a
moderate 3.1%. A major economic policy question for the UK in the late
1990s is the terms on which it participates in the financial and
economic integration of Europe.

GDP: purchasing power parity-$1.242 trillion (1997 est.)

GDP-real growth rate: 3.5% (1997 est.)

GDP-per capita: purchasing power parity-$21,200 (1997 est.)

GDP-composition by sector:
agriculture: 1.8%
industry: 31.4%
services: 66.8% (1996 est.)

Inflation rate-consumer price index: 3.1% (1997)

Labor force:
total: 28.2 million (1997)
by occupation: services 68.9%, manufacturing and construction 17.5%,
government 11.3%, energy 1.2%, agriculture 1.1% (1996)

Unemployment rate: 5.5% (1997 est.)

Budget:
revenues: $416.1 billion
expenditures: $470 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA
(1996 est.)

Industries: production machinery including machine tools, electric
power equipment, automation equipment, railroad equipment,
shipbuilding, aircraft, motor vehicles and parts, electronics and
communications equipment, metals, chemicals, coal, petroleum, paper
and paper products, food processing, textiles, clothing, and other
consumer goods

Industrial production growth rate: 2% (1997 est.)

Electricity-capacity: 66.149 million kW (1995)

Electricity-production: 306.62 billion kWh (1995)

Electricity-consumption per capita: 5,546 kWh (1995)

Agriculture-products: cereals, oilseed, potatoes, vegetables; cattle,
sheep, poultry; fish

Exports:
total value: $268 billion (f.o.b., 1997)
commodities: manufactured goods, machinery, fuels, chemicals,
semifinished goods, transport equipment
partners: EU countries 53.2% (Germany 12.4%, France 9.9%, Netherlands
7.8%), US 11.4% (1996)

Imports:
total value: $283.5 billion (f.o.b., 1997)
commodities: manufactured goods, machinery, semifinished goods,
foodstuffs, consumer goods
partners: EU countries 50.2% (Germany 14.2%, France 9.0%, Netherlands
6.5%), US 13.9% (1996)

Debt-external: $16.2 billion (June 1992)

Economic aid:
donor: ODA, $2.908 billion (1993)

Currency: 1 British pound (L) = 1