Performance of the co-operative economy

Resilience in a downturn

Number of memberships, 13.5 million

In 2011, the number of memberships grew by 5.5%.
Between 2008 and 2011 the number of memberships grew by 19.7%.

2008
11.3m

2009
12.9m

2010
12.8m

2011
13.5m

Turnover of the co-operative economy, £35.6 billion

In 2011, the co-operative economy grew by 1.5%, outperforming the UK economy for the fourth consecutive year. The co-operative economy has grown by 19.6% since 2008 whilst the UK economy in 2011 is 1.7% smaller than in 2008.

UK Economy		2008 contracted -1.1%	2009 contracted -4.4%		2010 grew by 2.1%	2010 grew by 0.7%
Co-operative Economy		2008 £29.8bn grew by 5.4%	2009 £32.2bn grew by 9.2%		2010 £35.4bn grew 7.7%	2010 £35.6bn grew by 1.5%

Performance of the co-operative economy

In times of economic downturn, whilst the UK economy considers cuts and businesses react to the short term, the co-operative economy behaves differently.

Run by its members and for its members, without shareholders, it is an economy that is free to act for the benefit of many, free to make decisions based on the longer term.

This richness allows the sector space to listen to all voices, gain a wealth of opinion and plan for the future benefit of the business, its members and its community. It affords co-operatives a wealth of resilience.