The Office for National Statistics calculates the quarterly GDP growth figure of 0.8% by looking at the growth and relative size of different industries in the UK economy. Services, which makes up 77.8% of the economy, grew 0.9% and contributed 0.70 percentage points to the total GDP growth. Production and construction also grew positively, while agriculture contracted but had little impact due to its small size. Weighting each industry's growth by its contribution to the overall economy gives the total GDP growth rate of 0.8%.

1. EXPLAINING THE GDP
GROWTH FIGURE

2. GDP INCREASED
0.8% BETWEEN Q4
2013 AND Q1 2014 0.8%
Question: How do the Office for National Statistics get to this 0.8% figure?
Answer:
They look at different industries: services, production, construction and agriculture.
The contribution an industry makes to total growth in UK GDP is dependent on:
• How big that industry is relative to the whole economy – it’s weight
• The growth in that industry.
Explaining the GDP Growth Figure
Announcement from the Office for National Statistics:

3. Explaining the GDP Growth Figure
The growth figures
between Q4 2013
and Q1 2014:
The current weights:
(based on the UK
economy in 2010)
Services Production Construction Agriculture
77.8% 15.2%
6.3% 0.7%
0.9% 0.8%
0.3%
-0.7%

4. The weights and growth figures
for each industry are
combined to give the overall
growth rate in total UK GDP.
Between Q4 2013 and Q1 2014
the overall growth rate in UK
GDP was 0.8%.
This chart shows that 0.8%
broken down by the
contribution from each
industry.
Explaining the GDP Growth Figure
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
Contribution to total
GDP growth
(percentage points)
0.8%
0.70
Services
0.11
Production
0.02
Construction
0.00
Agriculture

5. The weights and growth figures
for each industry are
combined to give the overall
growth rate in total UK GDP.
Between Q4 2013 and Q1 2014
the overall growth rate in UK
GDP was 0.8%.
This chart shows that 0.8%
broken down by the
contribution from each
industry.
Explaining the GDP Growth Figure
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
0.8%
0.70
Services
0.11
Production
0.02
Construction
0.00
Agriculture
Services has the biggest weight and
saw the largest positive change
so it is very dominant
Contribution to total
GDP growth
(percentage points)

6. The weights and growth figures
for each industry are
combined to give the overall
growth rate in total UK GDP.
Between Q4 2013 and Q1 2014
the overall growth rate in UK
GDP was 0.8%.
This chart shows that 0.8%
broken down by the
contribution from each
industry.
Explaining the GDP Growth Figure
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
0.8%
0.70
Services
0.11
Production
0.02
Construction
0.00
Agriculture
Services has the biggest weight and
saw the largest positive change
so it is very dominant
Agriculture is only a small section of the
UK economy so it has a very small weight.
Therefore even though there was a
contraction in the agriculture industry,
it had zero impact on total GDP growth
Contribution to total
GDP growth
(percentage points)