2.78 million people in the UK are economically inactive due to long-term sickness

The chart shows the number of people in the UK who are economically inactive because of long-term sickness, from 1993 to June 2026. After falling to roughly 2 million in the late 2010s, the figure rose sharply from 2020 and stands at 2.78 million, after a peak of around 2.85 million in 2023. The grey bars mark the lockdowns.