Inaugural Report: The Growth Challenge

The UK and other developed economies are experiencing crises of economic growth which have been building in recent decades, and which threaten to undermine the progress made on quality of life for millions over the past century.

The best way of comparing economic growth between different countries is to look at GDP per capita and its direction of travel, since it provides the clearest indication of economic trends that affect people’s prosperity.

The Growth Commission has been set up to investigate the causes of the slowing down in GDP per capita growth worldwide, with an initial focus on the UK, and to analyse the impact of different policies on growth.

This initial paper sets out several key findings, in particular how:

• Growth measured as GDP per capita in the advanced economies is slowing down
• The slowdown is even more dramatic in Western European economies
• In the post-Covid period, the UK is one of the few international economies where GDP per capita is actually falling