BRIEFING PAPER
Number 05809, 18 August 2016
Manufacturing:
international comparisons
By Chris Rhodes
Inside:
1. Manufacturing output
2. Manufacturing output per
head
3. Manufacturing output as %
of national economic
output
4. UK manufacturing output:
historic rankings
5. Manufacturing output:
international comparisons
since 1970
6. Note on sources
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Number 05809, 18 August 2016
Contents
Summary
3
1.
Manufacturing output
4
2.
Manufacturing output per head
5
3.
Manufacturing output as % of national economic output
6
4.
UK manufacturing output: historic rankings
7
5.
Manufacturing output: international comparisons since 1970
8
6.
Note on sources
9
Cover page image copyright:
Cheese factory by James Yu. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 / image cropped.
2
3
Manufacturing: international comparisons
Summary
This note uses UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) data to compare
manufacturing in different countries. The most recent data from this source are for 2014.
Manufacturing output in 2014:
•
For the first time in the UN data, Chinese manufacturing output was the highest in
the world, $1.9 trillion.
•
USA manufacturing output totalled $1.8 trillion, the second highest in the world.
•
The UK’s manufacturing output was $247 billion, the 9th highest in the world.
Manufacturing output per head:
•
In Switzerland, manufacturing output per head was $11,600 in 2014, the highest in
the world by a considerable margin.
•
In the UK, manufacturing output per head was $3,800, but note that the
population and total manufacturing output in the UK is far larger than in
Switzerland.
Manufacturing as a proportion of national economic output in 2014:
•
Small, developing economies that are highly reliant on their manufacturing sector
have the highest manufacturing output as a proportion of total economic output.
•
For example, Turkmenistan has the highest proportion of output from
manufacturing at 38%. The tiny island nation of Nauru’s manufacturing output
totals 37% of total output.
•
In the UK, the manufacturing sector accounted for 11% of output.
UK manufacturing ranking:
•
The UK has fallen down the world rank of manufacturing nations in the last decade.
Having been the 5th or 6th biggest manufacturer in terms of total output between
1970 and 2004, the UK is now 9th.
•
The USA was the world’s largest manufacturer between 1970 and 2013. It is now
the second biggest, having been overtaken by China in 2014.
Number 05809, 18 August 2016
1. Manufacturing output
Manufacturing output in 2014
$US in 2005 prices using 2005 exchange rates
Rank in world
China
United States
Japan
Germany
South Korea
India
France
Italy
United Kingdom
Taiwan
Mexico
Canada
Brazil
Russia
Spain
Turkey
Indonesia
Switzerland
Poland
Netherlands
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Manufacturing output
$ billions
1,882
1,843
1,001
680
369
290
267
257
247
190
170
150
145
140
134
120
110
95
94
87
Per head, $
% of national
output
% of world
manufacturing
1,400
5,700
7,900
8,400
7,400
200
4,000
4,300
3,800
8,100
1,400
4,200
700
1,000
2,900
1,600
400
11,600
2,400
5,200
28%
12%
19%
23%
30%
17%
11%
15%
11%
30%
18%
11%
11%
15%
13%
18%
22%
19%
19%
12%
19%
19%
10%
7%
4%
3%
3%
3%
3%
2%
2%
2%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
1%
Source: UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Rank out of 237 countries
World average is the unweighted mean of all countries in the world. This measure is used throughout this note.
UK manufacturing output totalled $247 billion in 2014. This was below
manufacturing output in the other major European economies: France,
Italy and Germany.
The UK accounted for 3% of the world manufacturing output. Between
them, the US, China, Japan and Germany accounted for 55% of world
manufacturing output.
Manufacturing output, $ billions,
2014 top ten, 2005 prices using 2005 exchange rates
2,000
1,800
1,600
1,400
1,200
1,000
800
600
400
200
0
The manufacturing output of the countries featured in the table above
accounted for 84% of world manufacturing output in 2014.
4
5
Manufacturing: international comparisons
2. Manufacturing output per
head
Manufacturing output per head, $s
2014 top ten, 2005 prices using 2005 exchange rates
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
Per head, manufacturing output in the UK was $3,800 in 2014, below
many advanced economies, such as Germany ($8,400), Japan ($7,900),
and the US ($5,700).
Some of the countries featured in the chart above have relatively low
total manufacturing output, such as Switzerland ($95.3 billion) and
Qatar ($10.5 billion), but also small populations meaning that
manufacturing output per head is high.
Countries such as the US or China, have huge manufacturing output
(around $1.8 trillion each) but also large populations, so manufacturing
output per head is lower than in many countries: $5,700 in the US and
$1,400 in China.
Number 05809, 18 August 2016
3. Manufacturing output as % of
national economic output
Manufacturing output as a % of national output
2014 top ten, 2005 prices using 2005 exchange rates
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Manufacturing as a proportion of UK national economic output was
11% in 2014.
Many countries in which manufacturing accounts for a high proportion
of economic output are developing countries with relatively low total
economic output. Turkmenistan, where manufacturing accounted for
38% of economic output in 2014, has a small economy by Western
standards, with total economic output a fraction of the UK’s.
6
7
Manufacturing: international comparisons
4. UK manufacturing output:
historic rankings
UK rankings for manufacturing output
Out of 237 countries, 1=highest
Manufacturing
output
0
20
Per head
40
60
80
100
% of national
output
120
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
Between 1970 and 2004, the UK was ranked 5th or 6th in the world in
terms of total manufacturing output. Since then the UK has fallen down
the international rankings for manufacturing output and was 9th in
2014.
In terms of manufacturing output per head, the UK was ranked 18th in
the world in 1970, and 29th in 2014.
In terms of manufacturing as a proportion of national economic output,
the UK has fallen from 20th in the world in 1970 to 116th in the world
in 2014. This is a product of the growth of manufacturing bases in
other parts of the world, and the diversification of the UK economy,
with the service industries contributing a far larger proportion now than
in 1970.
Number 05809, 18 August 2016
8
5. Manufacturing output: international comparisons since 1970
International comparisons of manufacturing output: 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2014; top 20 countries in 2014
$US in 2005 prices using 2005 exchange rates
1970
China
United States
Japan
Germany
South Korea
India
France
Italy
United Kingdom
Taiwan
Mexico
Canada
Brazil
Russia
Spain
Turkey
Indonesia
Switzerland
Poland
Netherlands
696
306
368
5
19
122
112
177
7
38
62
38
58
13
45
10
37
Manufacturing output ($ billions)
1980
1990
2000
2010
828
472
440
22
28
166
204
201
25
75
87
92
92
22
52
16
45
1,062
754
519
70
57
191
254
243
50
92
110
95
114
43
60
12
59
Source: UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
Rank out of 237 countries
World average is the unweighted mean of all countries in the world.
- indicates data not available
1,567
825
550
167
101
245
289
264
82
143
165
113
90
149
66
68
38
79
1,373
1,778
996
616
314
226
258
269
243
159
149
137
146
125
149
100
90
86
78
84
2014
1970
1,882
1,843
1,001
680
369
290
267
257
247
190
170
150
145
140
134
120
110
95
94
87
1
4
2
42
21
6
7
5
34
14
9
13
10
26
11
28
15
Manufacturing output (Rank out of 237)
1980
1990
2000
2010
1
2
3
27
23
7
5
6
24
12
11
9
10
28
14
31
15
1
2
3
12
16
7
4
5
17
11
9
10
8
19
13
42
15
1
2
3
7
12
6
4
5
14
10
8
11
13
9
18
17
24
15
2
1
3
4
5
9
7
6
8
10
12
14
13
15
11
16
17
18
20
19
2014
1970
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
24%
34%
34%
18%
16%
22%
26%
27%
35%
19%
22%
27%
25%
21%
23%
31%
25%
Manufacturing output as a % of national output
1980
1990
2000
2010
21%
27%
29%
23%
19%
20%
27%
21%
42%
19%
19%
31%
23%
22%
24%
31%
18%
18%
26%
28%
27%
20%
18%
22%
19%
36%
20%
17%
26%
20%
29%
21%
31%
18%
15%
21%
23%
29%
19%
16%
20%
16%
28%
20%
19%
16%
22%
18%
21%
19%
18%
15%
32%
12%
20%
22%
31%
18%
11%
16%
10%
30%
17%
11%
15%
15%
13%
17%
23%
19%
18%
12%
2014
28%
12%
19%
23%
30%
17%
11%
15%
11%
30%
18%
11%
11%
15%
13%
18%
22%
19%
19%
12%
9
Manufacturing: international comparisons
6. Note on sources
Similar data to those used in this note are also available from other
sources, such as the World Bank and the OECD. Due to methodological
and definitional differences, different sources should not be directly
compared.
The figures in this note are in US dollars, converted from national
currencies using 2005 exchange rates. The figures are in 2005 prices.
This means that price inflation and fluctuations in the strength of local
currencies are not reflected in the data in this note.
Manufacturing is defined using the International Standard Industrial
Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC), revision 3.1, Section D.
Some slight local variations in the definition of manufacturing mean
that comparisons should be made with caution.
The measure of economic output used here is Gross Value Added,
which measures total economic output of part of the economy, minus
any costs incurred in production.
Data is missing for some countries for a number of different reasons,
including the fact that the country may not have existed in its current
form in the past, or that it did not have a fully functioning statistical
agency until more recently.
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BRIEFING PAPER
Number 05809, 18 August
2016
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