How Does the UK Compare to the Rest of the World’s Manufacturing?

A country’s manufacturing output contributes a great deal to global business. Manufacturing is arguably the lifeblood of global business. UK manufacturing alone contributes £6.7 trillion to the global economy — impressive stats for a country that is dwarfed in size by other nations.

But just how does the UK’s manufacturing output compare to the rest of the world? In this article, discrete manufacturing software provider, Datawright, compares the UK’s productivity against the world’s manufacturing heavyweights.

The UK

The UK is 9^th for the highest manufacturing output globally, which is reasonably impressive if you consider the size of the UK compared some the likes of the USA, China and Japan. According to a House of Commons briefing paper, which looked at the most recent manufacturing data, the UK had ranked 9th out of 237 countries — a decrease from previous years. Between 1970 and 2004, the UK’s rank generally stayed around 5th and 6th position.

Despite ranking 9^th, the UK’s manufacturing output was still worth $247 billion in 2014, which broken down, equates to $3,800 on a head-by-head basis. However, the per-head figure does not provide an accurate point of comparison due to populations varying between countries. In total, manufacturing accounted for 11% the UK’s national economic output and 3% of global manufacturing.

China

However, in comparison, China blows the UK’s output out of the water. In 2014, China had the highest manufacturing output of all countries, worth a total of $1.9 trillion. Eclipsing the UK’s humble 11%, manufacturing makes up 28% of the country’s entire national output. On a global scale, this contributes 19% — almost one fifth — to world manufacturing.

Naturally, given China’s large population — approximately 1.37 billion — the manufacturing output per head is significantly lower than the UK, standing at $1,400.

United States

At number two, the USA’s manufacturing output missed first place by just $0.1 trillion – their output was $1.8 trillion, meaning they only just fell short of China’s $1.9 trillion total. However, despite the similarities between these totals, the United States output-per-head breakdown is significantly higher at $5,700 — a result of America’s smaller population size.

Furthermore, despite occupying the same percentage of world manufacturing as China (19%), manufacturing makes up just 12% of the USA’s national output. Whereas China’s output was more than double at 28%, this stark difference shows how the USA’s priorities differ to China. Manufacturing is clearly less of a priority to the United States’ economy.

Japan

Ranking in third place, Japan made it onto the manufacturing output league table with just over $1 trillion. Per head, this equates to $7,900. In total, Japan’s manufacturing efforts make up 19% of the country’s national output, and 10% of the worldwide output.

Germany

There is more a difference between third place and fourth place. Germany occupies fourth place in terms of manufacturing output rankings and despite being significantly ahead of fifth place company South Korea, Germany is considerably behind Japan in terms of manufacturing output. Compared to Japan’s $1 trillion, Germany’s manufacturing output is more than $300 billion less, at $680 billion.

On a head-by-head basis, this works out at $8,400. Overall, manufacturing makes up 23% of Germany’s national output and 7% of the global total.

Smaller countries, bigger output?

Whilst it is some of the world’s largest countries who took the top manufacturing spots, it is generally the smaller regions that are often heavily reliant on manufacturing. For example, Turkmenistan and Nauru’s national outputs stand at 38% and 37%, respectively, illustrating how dependent developing economies are on manufacturing.

Sources

www.researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN05809/SN05809.pdf