United Kingdom: Food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing)

Key figures

What the numbers say

In 2022, United Kingdom's food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing) rose 0.5 percentage points on 2021 (from 17.08% to 17.58%).

Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1992 to 2021), the average change was +0.08 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.04 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 7.64 percentage points in 2009 and the biggest yearly fall was 5.08 percentage points in 2011. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

From 2013 to 2022 the straight-line trend is upward, about 0.68 percentage points a year. A straight line explains 73% of the movement over 10 observed years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2022, United Kingdom had the 14th highest value of the 19 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to United Kingdom in the 2022 ranking

• Jordan — 11th of 19: 23.51%
• Belarus — 12th of 19: 23.18%
• North Macedonia — 13th of 19: 19.61%
• Malaysia — 15th of 19: 12.21%
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 16th of 19: 11.47%
• Saudi Arabia — 17th of 19: 9.31%

What this measures

Manufacturing of food, beverages, and tobacco includes industries classified in ISIC (Rev. 3) divisions 15 and 16. Value added is the contribution to the economy by a producer or an industry or an institutional sector, which is estimated by the total value of output produced and deducting the total value of intermediate consumption of goods and services used to produce that output. This indicator is expressed as a percentage of value added in manufacturing which is the contribution to the economy by the manufacturing sector (ISIC Rev. 3 major division D).

Limitations: In establishing classifications systems compilers must define both the types of activities to be described and the units whose activities are to be reported. There are many possibilities, and the choices affect how the statistics can be interpreted and how useful they are in analyzing economic behavior. The ISIC emphasizes commonalities in the production process and is explicitly not intended to measure outputs (for which there is a newly developed Central Product Classification). Nevertheless, the ISIC views an activity as defined by "a process resulting in a homogeneous set of products."

All 56 values

Food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing) in nearby economies

• Albania — 19.82% (2023)
• Armenia — 53.11% (2023)
• Austria — 12.82% (2023)
• Azerbaijan — 29.45% (2023)
• Belarus — 23.18% (2022)
• Belgium — 18.65% (2023)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina — 18.23% (2023)
• Bulgaria — 16.5% (2023)
• Croatia

More economic policy & debt data for United Kingdom

• Total reserves, including gold (current US$) — US$214.36 billion (2025)
• Total reserves, excluding gold (current US$) — US$170.78 billion (2025)
• General government final consumption expenditure (current US$) — US$849.56 billion (2025)
• General government final consumption expenditure (current LCU) — 645.22 billion (2025)
• General government final consumption expenditure (% of GDP) — 21.23% (2025)
• Households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure (current US$) — US$2.42 trillion (2025)
• Households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure (current LCU) — 1.84 trillion (2025)
• Households and NPISHs final consumption expenditure (% of GDP)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is United Kingdom's food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing)?

17.58% in 2022, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1963?

It is up 5.57 percentage points from 12.01% in 1963. The highest value was 19.89% in 2009 and the lowest 12.01% in 1963.

How does United Kingdom rank?

14th highest of 19 economies with data for 2022.

Is the latest change in food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing) unusual for United Kingdom?

In 2022, United Kingdom's food, beverages and tobacco (% of value added in manufacturing) rose 0.5 percentage points on 2021 (from 17.08% to 17.58%). Across the 30 yearly changes before that (1992 to 2021), the average change was +0.08 percentage points and a typical year strayed about 2.04 percentage points from that (the standard deviation). This year's change was 0.2 standard deviations above that average, so it was an ordinary year: it sits within the range of normal year-to-year movement.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator NV.MNF.FBTO.ZS.UN, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: International Yearbook of Industrial Statistics, UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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