California’s economy has surpassed that of the UK to become the world’s fifth-largest, according to the latest federal data.

California’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose by $127 billion from 2016 to 2017, passing the $2.7 trillion mark; the UK’s economic output shrunk slightly over that time (when measured in US dollars), due in part to exchange-rate fluctuations.

Irena Asmundson, chief economist at the California Department of Finance, said all economic sectors except agriculture contributed to California’s higher GDP.

The state’s economic output is now surpassed only by the USA as a whole, China, Japan and Germany.

The state has 12% of the US population but contributed 16% of the country’s job growth between 2012 and 2017. Its share of the national economy also grew from 12.8% to 14.2% over that five-year period.

Lee Ohanian, an economics professor at the University of California, said the state’s strong economic performance relative to other industrialised economies is driven by worker productivity.

“The UK has 25 million more people than California but now has a smaller GDP.”