UK economy overtaken by Italy

[minestrone]

That's even more amazing, if they're talking sheer size rather than per-person.

When I came out of uni with a mech eng degree all those years ago everyone said 'you will not get a job after what maggie did to the industry.

I wonder what they are saying these days to graduate Engineers, accountants, lawyers, biologists, physicists, teachers, economists, mathematicians ... yadda yadda

[gingerjedi]

Those figures include financial services... enough said.

[Doggy Styles]

That's even more amazing, if they're talking sheer size rather than per-person.

Yes, it is sheer size. If I recall correctly, it was USA, Japan, Germany, UK, France.

Then China arrived.

[d000hg]

Yes, it is. In 2000 we were the 4th biggest.

That's even more amazing, if they're talking sheer size rather than per-person.

[AtW]

"by 2000 its economy was some 35 per cent bigger than Italy’s."

Been a catastrophic failure since those highs. This would never have happened under the tories.

http://uk.finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=G...=on&z=m&q=l&c=

GBP dropped from 1.4-1.5 to 1.1 when compared to Euros, so even if GDP did not change in local currencies, then relatively speaking UKs dropped through the floor.

If Italy was with it's own old currency then chances are it would have faired even worse, but since it is part of Eurozone it did help them.

[Doggy Styles]

7th biggest economy? That's pretty amazing, considering.

Yes, it is. In 2000 we were the 4th biggest.

[TimberWolf]

7th biggest economy? That's pretty amazing, considering.

Yeah, but almost 1% of humans are British and the UK has the 22nd highest population in the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of..._by_population

[fckvwls]

"by 2000 its economy was some 35 per cent bigger than Italy’s."

Been a catastrophic failure since those highs. This would never have happened under the tories.

[d000hg]

7th biggest economy? That's pretty amazing, considering.

[OwlHoot]

From the Telegraph: UK economy overtaken by Italy

Britain's economy has been overtaken by Italy for the first time in a decade and a half, after official figures showed that the UK is now in the longest recession in recorded history.

The economy unexpectedly shrank by 0.4 per cent in the third quarter of the year. It takes the length of the recession to six quarters, or 18 months – the longest continuous contraction since comparable records began more than half a century ago.

It represents a double humiliation for Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling, who have repeatedly pledged that the UK is better-placed to withstand the recession than other major countries.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics also makes it highly likely that the UK will be the last leading industrialised nation to emerge from recession with forthcoming statistics expected to show the US, Germany, Japan, France and Italy growing between July and September.

But most embarrassing of all will be the news that as a result the UK has now fallen beneath Italy for the first time since the mid-1990s to become the world’s seventh biggest economy.

:::

In 1987, the first time Italy overtook Britain’s economy, the landmark moment was dubbed “Il Sorpasso” and prompted wild celebrations in the streets of Rome. The UK then regained its prominence in the mid-1990s, and by 2000 its economy was some 35 per cent bigger than Italy’s.