Public and island finances
Read the island the way you read a household.
A balance sheet and a profit-and-loss for Guernsey as one economic unit. The point is literacy, not theatre. If you can run a firm, you can stand in the square.
Island ledger
Working model · published States figures used as illustration, not an official account
People
~64,700
Resident population, 2026 range
At work
32,067
Employed or self-employed, Jun 2024
2025 core result
+£45m
States “Core” operating surplus
2026 budget
−£48m
Estimated deficit before investment returns
Why this shape
A firm, a family, an island.
The same four columns. Assets. Claims. Income. Outgoings. Once those are public and stable, opportunity cost stops being a politician’s word and becomes a sum.