Prostitutes And Drug Dealers Are To Be Included In Official GDP Figures

The British economy is set to receive a £10 billion boost – on paper, at least – as the country revamps the way it calculates its GDP to include prostitution and illegal drugs in its official national accounts.

Our economy is in real trouble – of course running the country is complex but the bottom line is that when you have more going out than coming in it’s all going to end badly at some point.

Some of our biggest industries – sex and drugs – pay very little tax. HMRC says that it got £1billion from criminals last year and headlines like the above are a very clear indication that it wants more. What is a “boost on paper” today will become a very real target tomorow.

Here’s the story nicely summarised in The Week…

For the first time in 15 years the Office for National Statistics is ready to “rip up” the way it measures the UK economy, the Financial Times reports.

One of the changes that will take effect in September will be the inclusion of earnings from prostitutes and drug dealers, which experts estimate will add up to 5 per cent to the UK’s gross domestic product.

In recent years, other countries have also adjusted the way they measure their economies. Italy’s statistical office recently expanded its national accounts to include prostitution and sales of cocaine, the Financial Times notes, and the US added 3.6 per cent to the size of 2012 GDP by expanding its definition of investment.

The Office of National Statistics admits that it made some fairly sweeping estimates to produce its statistics. By the ONS’s calculation Britain has approximately 61,000 prostitutes who each took 25 clients a week in 2009, at an average rate of £67.16. It also reckons the UK had 38,000 heroin users in 2009, and sales came to £754m with a street price of £37 a gram.

A new approach to measuring “non-profit institutions serving households” – such as charities – will add an even bigger £24 billion to GDP, The Times notes.

Together, the changes will add £34bn or 2.3 per cent to the 2009 level of GDP.

Defending the shift, Joe Grice, chief economic adviser at the ONS, said: “As economies develop and evolve, so do the statistics we use to measure them. These improvements are going on across the world and we are working with our partners in Europe and the wider world on the same agenda. Here in the UK these reforms will help ONS to continue delivering the best possible economic statistics”.