Whole of UK valued at a total of £7.3 trillion

The total equates to £114,000 for every man, woman and child in the UK at the end of 2012, or £275,000 per household. Picture: Getty

The figure – which includes houses, cars, currency, oil, patents and even cattle – is three times higher than the equivalent sum in 1987, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

It would have been even higher if it had not been for a marked cut in the value of shares owned in the UK in 2012, which dropped by 20 per cent, the ONS claimed.

The total equates to £114,000 for every man, woman and child in the UK at the end of 2012, or £275,000 per household.

The figures also showed that central government is an £800 billion liability on the country’s balance sheet because of its huge borrowing since the financial crisis began.

The statistics revealed again the huge part that property plays in the country’s net worth. Approximately 55 per cent of household wealth can be attributed to homes, the ONS said.

The report concluded: “Demand remained subdued throughout 2012.

“The UK was influenced by international factors such as the challenging economic conditions within the European Union and some volatility in food and commodity prices.

“Despite these pressures upon households and the negative contribution by general government, the total net worth of the UK increased.”

The survey of the value of everything is carried out every year in an effort to measure the wealth of the country as a whole.

In 1987, the ONS put the figure at just below £2tn. It stagnated during the 90s recession, before booming in the late part of the decade, soaring from £3tn to £6.5tn between 1997 and 2007.

The country’s wealth fell back in the economic downturn of 2008 and 2009 but it has now picked up again.

The ONS said yesterday that the £7.3tn figure was up by £74bn on the previous year, a 1 per cent increase.

The biggest contributor was a £410bn rise in the value of households, with the increased value of homes the biggest factor.

The overall increase in wealth was cut back by a reduction in the value of corporations, whose shares and equity decreased by 20 per cent.

Further downward pressure was applied by the government, which is now £830bn in the red, according to the ONS, thanks to the huge increase in the national debt since the financial crisis.

The figures show that central government has not been ranked as an “asset” since 1992.

“Without removing the effects of inflation, central government’s estimated total net worth was approximately minus £830bn at the end of 2012, a decrease of 7 per cent on the previous year and nearly five times less than its total net worth in 2006,” said the report.

It concludes that homes are collectively worth £4.2tn across the UK. Sums owed to pension holders, also regarded as an asset, come to £2.4tn.

Currency and cash deposits held in banks is valued at £1.3tn.

The total value of companies, other than financial institutions such as banks, was put at £253bn.

Financial corporations, which include banks, had an estimated total net worth of £221bn.