3 min read - 8 Sep, 2025
The Facts 2025: UK manufacturing climbs one place to 11th in global rankings
The UK’s manufacturing sector has improved one place to 11th in the latest world rankings, according to the latest official figures available published by Make UK today.
The figures are contained in the latest annual ‘UK Manufacturing – The Facts’, which contains a wide variety of data about the vital contribution of manufacturing to the UK economy, including exports, sectoral breakdown, how UK industry compares to other nations, jobs and salary levels.
The data shows that in 2023, the latest year for which global comparisons are available, UK manufacturing output was worth a revised $279bn (1). This is one place behind Brazil with $290bn, which has moved back into the top ten for the first time since 2012.
China is by far the largest manufacturing nation with output worth $4.8trn, followed by the United States $2.8trn and Japan $840bn. Germany remains the biggest manufacturing nation in Europe by some distance ($838bn) and retains its position as the world’s fourth largest manufacturing nation. It is followed by South Korea and India, who have swapped places in fifth and sixth, respectively, and Mexico.
Italy and France are respectively the second and third largest manufacturing nations in Europe, at 8th ($353bn) and 9th globally ($296bn).
The importance of manufacturing to the UK economy is also reinforced by data showing it accounts for more than four tenths of exports (42%), almost half of business R&D (48%) and almost a fifth of business investment (17%) (2).
Furthermore, analysis continues to dispel the myth that manufacturing jobs are badly paid when, in contrast, the average manufacturing salary at £41,220 is significantly higher than the average of the economy overall at £38,224 and services at £37,559 (3).
In terms of exports, the United States remains the single largest market for UK goods worth £59.3bn in 2024 (4). Germany is the second highest destination (£32.1.bn) while The Netherlands is third (£27.9bn). However, Make UK cautioned that trade with the Netherlands could be inflated artificially by goods being routed through Rotterdam for onward travel to other destinations. Ireland is the fourth largest export market (£23.9bn)
Seven of the top ten export markets are now in the EU, worth approximately £143bn. This is more than twice the level of exports to the US and around nine times the amount to China (£16.7bn). According to Make UK, this highlights the continued importance of the EU for UK goods and the need for the government to continue to smooth out trade barriers with what remains overwhelmingly the UK’s dominant global export market.
Dr Seamus Nevin, chief economist at Make UK, said: “These figures reflect not just the importance of manufacturing to the economy but factors and trends which are redrawing the contours of the global economy at an accelerating rate. These trends reinforce why it was vital to introduce a long-term industrial strategy to take competitive advantage of our undoubted strengths. This will ensure the UK retains its place at the top table of advanced manufacturing nations, where it has many world-class sectors.”
By sector, food and drink is the biggest individual contributor to manufacturing Gross Value Added (18%), followed by the transport sector (largely aerospace and automotive) at 17% and chemicals and pharmaceuticals (13%). The importance of the transport, chemicals and pharmaceuticals sectors is also illustrated by the fact that they collectively account for 70% of manufacturing R&D (5).
The North West remains the biggest manufacturing area of the UK, worth £29.5bn in output and employing 335,000 people (6). The sector accounts for almost 15% of the North West’s economic output overall and almost 10% of regional employment. Wales has the highest share of manufacturing of any area of the UK, accounting for almost 16% (15.6%) of the Welsh economy. This compares to just under 10% national average.
1. UNCTAD 2023 | 2. Latest ONS data from 2024 and 2025 | 3. ONS – ASHE 2024
4. UK Trade ONS 2024 | 5. ONS 2025 | 6. ONS 2024
Read the full fact card below:
