70 years on - where would the world be without Hirohito

  in 1962 the United Kingdom had the highest public debt-to-GDP ratio among major developed nations, largely as a lingering consequence of World War II financing and post-war commitments. Key figures (gross public debt as % of GDP, approximate): - United Kingdom: ~120–125% in 1962 (peaked at over 250% in 1946–47, then very slowly declined) - United States: ~45–50% - France: ~50–55% - West Germany: ~18–20% (benefited from the 1953 London Debt Agreement that wrote off ~50% of its pre-war and post-war debt) - Japan: ~15–20% (also had major debt relief and rapid growth) The UK’s exceptionally high debt stemmed from several factors: - Massive WWII borrowing: Britain financed much of the early war alone (1939–41) and then became the main staging ground for the Allied invasion of Europe. - Lend-Lease from the US ended abruptly in 1945, leaving the UK with a huge dollar shortfall. The 1945 Anglo-American Loan ($3.75 billion US + $1.2 billion Canadian) came with interest (2% for 50 years) and forced sterling convertibility in 1947, which triggered a currency crisis. - Empire/Commonwealth commitments and the costs of maintaining global military bases (“east of Suez”) until the late 1960s. - Slow post-war growth compared to continental Europe and Japan (the “British disease” of low productivity growth). By 1962 the UK still carried more WWII-related debt than any other developed country as a share of its economy. It did not get its debt-to-GDP ratio comfortably below 50% until the late 1980s/early 199 STOCKs, and only fell below the WWII starting level (~120% in 1939) in the early 1990s. So yes – in 1962 the British pound (and the UK taxpayer) was still paying the heaviest relative price for victory in World War II among the major Allied powers.