UK 10-Year Gilt Yield: History Since 1960

The 10-year gilt yield is the backbone of UK borrowing costs and a six-decade record of British inflation, disinflation, and fiscal credibility. This dataset tracks the OECD benchmark 10-year government bond yield for the United Kingdom, in percent per year, distributed via FRED under the code IRLTLT01GBM156N, with monthly coverage since 1960.

Dataset: UK 10-Year Gilt Yield (1960–2026) · Updated 2026-04-01

Source: OECD Main Economic Indicators · long-term interest rates (via FRED)

Macro Takeaway

Dataset Overview

Dataset Variables

The CSV and Excel files contain the following columns. Each row represents one month.

Column names match the CSV headers exactly.

Download the Complete Dataset

The full dataset is available in CSV and Excel formats — monthly observations spanning 1960–2026.

FRED Direct CSV Access

The underlying data is published in the Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) database under the series code IRLTLT01GBM156N, sourced from the OECD’s long-term interest rate statistics:

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgraph.csv?id=IRLTLT01GBM156N

The Eco3min dataset mirrors the same monthly series, packaged in a stable, versionable CSV with consistent column names — designed for direct ingestion in Python, R, or any data pipeline. The URL never changes, making it suitable for automated scripts.

Direct CSV Access — Eco3min Structured Dataset

https://eco3min.fr/dataset/uk-10y-government-bond-yield.csv

This URL returns the complete dataset in CSV format. It can be used directly in pandas, R, curl, or any data tool.

Using the Dataset in Python

import pandas as pd

url = "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/uk-10y-government-bond-yield.csv"
df = pd.read_csv(url, parse_dates=["date"])

print(df.head())
print(df["gilt_10y"].describe())

df.plot(x="date", y="gilt_10y", title="UK 10-year gilt yield", legend=False)

Using the Dataset in R

library(readr)

url <- "https://eco3min.fr/dataset/uk-10y-government-bond-yield.csv"
df <- read_csv(url)

head(df)
summary(df$gilt_10y)

Both examples load the dataset directly from the URL — no download or API key required.

Methodology

This is the OECD harmonised long-term interest rate for the United Kingdom, the yield on benchmark 10-year gilts. the 10-year yield as a pricing reference maps how this works.

The figure is the yield to maturity on a benchmark 10-year government bond, expressed in percent per year, reported monthly. The series begins in 1960.

This dataset is updated via an automated pull from the FRED API (series IRLTLT01GBM156N) by an Eco3min pipeline running on GitHub Actions, which regenerates the cleaned CSV and Excel files and refreshes the page metadata.

Data Quality & Provider Notes

The OECD long-term interest rate series are a standard cross-country reference for 10-year government bond yields. A few points matter when using this series.

• Benchmark, not a single bond. The yield refers to a representative 10-year maturity, not one fixed bond, so the underlying security rolls over time.
• Monthly average. This is a monthly figure and will differ from any single day’s closing yield; intra-month extremes are smoothed.
• Yield, not total return. The series is a yield level. It is not the total return an investor earned, which also depends on price changes and coupons.
• Cross-country comparability. The OECD harmonises definitions, but national market conventions still differ slightly between countries.

Common Pitfalls When Using This Series

1. Confusing yield with price. A bond yield moves inversely to its price: when the yield rises, the price of existing bonds falls, and vice versa. A rising line here means bonds got cheaper, not more expensive.
2. Confusing a market yield with a policy rate. This is a market-determined bond yield, not the central bank’s policy rate. The two can move in opposite directions when markets price in future policy.
3. Confusing nominal and real yields. This series is a nominal yield. Subtracting expected inflation gives the real yield, which is what matters for valuation.

Historical Regimes

1960s–1970s — Inflation surge. Yields rose with accelerating inflation, heading toward double digits by the early 1980s.

1980s–1990s — Disinflation. Yields fell as inflation was tamed and the Bank of England gained independence in 1997.

2000–2008 — Low and stable. Yields settled in a moderate range during the pre-crisis period.

2009–2021 — QE-era lows. Quantitative easing drove gilt yields to record lows, near zero in 2020.

2022 — The mini-budget gilt crisis. The September 2022 mini-budget triggered a violent gilt sell-off and emergency Bank of England intervention; yields spiked. Eco3min’s analysis of the 2022 LDI episode traces this episode.

2023–2026 — Higher-for-longer. Yields stayed elevated as the Bank of England fought inflation.

Related Macroeconomic Datasets

Developed Markets (ex-US) Hub

This dataset is part of the Eco3min repository of exchange rates, government bond yields, and policy rates for the major developed economies outside the United States, all sourced from the OECD and national authorities via FRED.

Explore the Developed Markets (ex-US) Hub

Sources

• OECD — Main Economic Indicators, long-term interest rates (UK 10-Year Gilt Yield)
• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis — FRED database, series IRLTLT01GBM156N
• OECD long-term interest rates, United Kingdom — basis underlying the FRED series

Dataset Reference

Eco3min Research. (2026). UK 10-Year Gilt Yield — Monthly (1960-2026). Source: OECD long-term interest rates via FRED.<br> https://eco3min.fr/en/uk-10y-government-bond-yield-history-dataset/