HL Deb 30 March 1987 vol 486 cc450-2WA
Lord Diamond

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What was the average annual percentage growth rate of gross domestic product, (a)at factor cost and (b)at constant prices, from 1946 to 1978 inclusive, and for which individual years within that period was there no positive growth.

The Secretary of State for Employment (Lord Young of Graffham)

Official estimates of gross domestic product (GDP) at constant factor cost on a consistent basis are readily available only from 1948.

The average annual percentage growth rate between 1948 and 1978 in the average measure of GDP at constant factor cost is 2.6 per cent. Within that period there were three years for which GDP is estimated to have fallen, in real terms: 1958, 1974 and 1975.

This information and corresponding information relating to the expenditure, income and output measures of GDP, at constant factor cost, is published in Tables 3.11 to 3.14 of the 1986 edition of United Kingdom National Accounts (the Central Statistical Office "Blue Book"), which is available in the Library of the House of Lords.