1. Main points
In 2018, England was the only country of the UK with a gross disposable household income (GDHI) per head above the UK average.
In 2018, the growth in GDHI per head in the UK compared with 2017 was 4.6%; Scotland and Northern Ireland exceeded this with 5.1% and 4.7% respectively, while England’s growth was the same as the UK and Wales grew by 4.4%.
Of the countries and regions classified by the Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics (NUTS1) in 2018, London had the highest GDHI per head where, on average, each person had £29,362 available to spend or save; the North East had the lowest at £16,995, which compares with a UK average of £21,109.
Between 2017 and 2018, GDHI per head of population increased in all NUTS1 regions; the largest positive percentage increase was in London at 5.2% and the smallest was in the East Midlands at 3.6%.
In 2018, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham was the local area (NUTS3) with the highest GDHI per head (£63,286), nearly three times the UK average; Nottingham had the lowest GDHI per head at £13,138.
In terms of GDHI per head in 2018, all the top 10 NUTS3 local areas were in London or the South East NUTS1 regions, the top six of which were in London; the bottom 10 local areas were all within the North West, Yorkshire and The Humber, East Midlands, West Midlands, and Northern Ireland regions.
2. GDHI per head by UK constituent country and region
UK total gross disposable household income (GDHI) in 2018 was £1,402 billion. Of that, 86.3% was in England, 7.6% was in Scotland, 3.8% was in Wales and Northern Ireland had the lowest share of total GDHI in 2018 at 2.3%.
Table 1 provides an overview of GDHI for the four UK countries and Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics (NUTS1) regions.
| Countries and regions of the UK | Population³ | GDHI per head (£)¹ | GDHI per head growth on 2017 (percentage) | GDHI per head index (UK=100) | Total GDHI (£ million) | Total GDHI growth on 2017 (percentage) | Share of the UK population (percentage) | Share of UK total GDHI (percentage) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | 66,435,550 | 21,109 | 4.6 | 100.0 | 1,402,367 | 5.3 | 100.0 | 100.0 |
| England | 55,977,178 | 21,609 | 4.6 | 102.4 | 1,209,637 | 5.3 | 84.3 | 86.3 |
| North East | 2,657,909 | 16,995 | 3.9 | 80.5 | 45,171 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 3.2 |
| North West | 7,292,093 | 18,362 | 4.4 | 87.0 | 133,897 | 4.9 | 11.0 | 9.5 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 5,479,615 | 17,665 | 4.5 | 83.7 | 96,796 | 5.0 | 8.2 | 6.9 |
| East Midlands | 4,804,149 | 18,277 | 3.6 | 86.6 | 87,804 | 4.3 | 7.2 | 6.3 |
| West Midlands | 5,900,757 | 18,222 | 4.7 | 86.3 | 107,526 | 5.4 | 8.9 | 7.7 |
| East of England | 6,201,214 | 22,205 | 4.9 | 105.2 | 137,698 | 5.5 | 9.3 | 9.8 |
| London | 8,908,081 | 29,362 | 5.2 | 139.1 | 261,562 | 6.1 | 13.4 | 18.7 |
| South East | 9,133,625 | 24,318 | 4.1 | 115.2 | 222,113 | 4.7 | 13.7 | 15.8 |
| South West | 5,599,735 | 20,907 | 5.0 | 99.0 | 117,071 | 5.8 | 8.4 | 8.3 |
| Wales | 3,138,631 | 17,100 | 4.4 | 81.0 | 53,669 | 4.8 | 4.7 | 3.8 |
| Scotland | 5,438,100 | 19,572 | 5.1 | 92.7 | 106,433 | 5.4 | 8.2 | 7.6 |
| Northern Ireland | 1,881,641 | 17,340 | 4.7 | 82.1 | 32,627 | 5.3 | 2.8 | 2.3 |
Download this table Table 1: Gross disposable household income¹, UK and constituent countries and regions, 2018²
.xls .csvTotal GDHI estimates in millions of pounds (£ million) are divided by the resident population of a region to give GDHI per head in pounds (£). Per head data take account of the entire resident population of regions, sub-regions and local areas including both the working population and the economically inactive. GDHI per head are estimates of values for each person, not each household. This can be a useful way of comparing regions of different sizes.
Back to table of contents3. Average disposable household income in your local area
Figure 1 shows how gross disposable household income (GDHI) per head varied across Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics (NUTS3) local areas in the years 1997 to 2018.
Figure 1: The NUTS3 area with the highest gross disposable household income (GDHI) per head in 2018 was Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham.
Gross disposable household income (GDHI) per head for NUTS3 local areas, UK, 1997 to 2018
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4. Regional gross disposable household income data
Regional gross disposable household income: all NUTS level regions
Dataset | Released 4 June 2020
Annual estimates of UK regional gross disposable household income (GDHI) at current prices for NUTS1, NUTS2 and NUTS3.
Regional gross disposable household income: city regions
Dataset | Released 4 June 2020
Annual estimates of UK regional GDHI for combined authorities and city regions.
Regional gross disposable household income: enterprise regions
Dataset | Released 4 June 2020
Annual estimates of UK regional GDHI for other economic and enterprise regions.
Regional gross disposable household income: local authorities by NUTS1 region
Dataset | Released 4 June 2020
Annual estimates of UK regional GDHI for local authorities.
5. Glossary
Gross disposable househould income
Gross disposable household income (GDHI) is the amount of money that all of the individuals in the household sector have available for spending or saving after they have paid direct and indirect taxes and received any direct benefits. GDHI is a concept that is seen to reflect the “material welfare” of the household sector.
Back to table of contents6. Measuring the data
Geographic levels for gross domestic product estimates
Estimates in this bulletin are available at four geographic levels, in accordance with the Nomenclature of Units for Territorial Statistics (NUTS) classification that came into force on 1 January 2018. Local authority estimates include the changes introduced in April 2019.
Methodology
This year, we have introduced further enhancements to the data and methods we use to break gross disposable household income (GDHI) components down to local authorities. For the first time, we now have data on earnings, Income Tax, and employees’ and employers’ National Insurance contributions from Pay As You Earn (PAYE) schemes at this level of geography as well as the income of self-employed people from self-assessment records and income from investments and pension schemes from the Survey of Personal Incomes. All of these data have been provided by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and are consistent with the data provided for larger geographic regions. These data allow us to better allocate the primary income components of mixed income, compensation of employees and property income received as well as the secondary components of social contributions and taxes on income and wealth. Together, they represent a significant improvement to the quality of local authority estimates.
Various guidance and methodology documents relating to regional GDHI are available. The regional accounts methodology guide provides an overview of the methodology used to compile regional accounts outputs.
More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in the Regional GDHI QMI.
You can monitor revisions to the published figures over time by looking at the Regional GDHI revisions triangles.
The figures in the accompanying datasets are all in current prices, which include the effect of price inflation, and are consistent with those published in the UK National Accounts, The Blue Book: 2019.
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