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Really? I thought that happened way after WWI. The UK economy back then had a gazillion of colonies to sustain it.

No OP's correct, the US surpassed the UK both in population and in GDP sometime around the middle of the 19th century.

The US overtook the UK in 1860, but overtaking the entire British Empire was closer to 1900.

I think the point is that looking at the UK in a vacuum, outside the context of colonies like India, Kenya, Singapore, etc., is probably misleading.