Value of UK plc rises to £100,000 for each man, woman and child

The total value of the United Kingdom has risen to £5.8 trillion - equivalent to £100,000 for each man, woman and child - official figures showed yesterday. The value of wealth in the country rose by £404bn, or almost 7 per cent, during 2004, the Office for National Statistics said.

However, the rate of growth has slowed compared with the previous year. In 2003 the total value of the UK rose by £456bn, or over 8 per cent, to £5.3 trillion compared with the previous year.

The report adds up a range of assets, including the value of buildings, roads and financial products. Housing continued to be the most valuable asset, worth £3.43 trillion - up 12 per cent on the previous year and making up 59 per cent of the country's total wealth. Within this, some £3.22 trillion belonged to households and non-profit organisations.

The ONS report - Capital Stocks, Capital Consumption and Non Financial Balance Sheets, published annually - also gave figures dating back more than half a century. It showed that the value of non-financial assets increased from £533bn in 1948 to £2.53 trillion in 2004. The total cost of replacing all of the country's assets in their current condition would be an estimated £2.61bn at current prices, the ONS added.

The figures demonstrate how the property price boom of the last decade has changed the make-up of wealth. In 1995, housing made up just 43 per cent of total assets and it only broke through the 50 per cent barrier in 2000, the same year that homes were worth £2 trillion for the first time.