Britain's share of the world's manufacturing has fallen from 3.8 per cent to 3 per cent in the past decade, according to the Vienna-based United Nations Industrial Development Organisation.

Over this period global manufacturing output has expanded 34 per cent, from $5,772bn to $7,747bn (£4,127bn), while UK production has risen by only 6 per cent. Britain's much slower rate of growth graphically illustrates why the country's share of manufacturing value-added output measured in constant 1995 prices has declined. The UK's performance has been significantly worse than that of the US - which has kept its share of global manufacturing value-added output roughly constant in this period at just over 20 per cent. Japan, the second biggest manufacturer after the US, increased manufacturing output over the decade by 12.6 per cent. However, since this was lower than the overall gain in global production, its share of the total dropped to 17.7 per cent from 21.1 per cent in 1995.