Key Data

  • South West England's economy was valued at £89.5 billion in 2006, ranking it the fifth largest of any English region.
  • Between 2001 and 2006 the regional economy grew on average at approximately 5.7% per annum, above the English average of 5.4%.
  • Gross Value Added (GVA) per head was estimated at £17,467 in the South West in 2006 making it the most productive English region outside London and the Greater South East.
  • GVA per head in the South West was approximately 8% lower than the English average in 2006.  Between 2005 and 2006, SW productivity growth was 4.7%, marginally outperforming England’s performance (4.5%) and substantially improving on the relatively modest growth in the previous year (3.4%).
  • Productivity rates vary across the South West.  Swindon, the best performing sub-region, was 50% more productive than the English average in 2005, while Torbay, the poorest performing area, was 38% below.
  • Gross Disposable Household Income (GDHI) per head was £13,258 in the South West in 2005, the highest level outside of the Greater South East.
  • The SW economy is dominated by services, which account for around 75% of regional output and employment. Although manufacturing output has remained fairly stable, its share of the overall regional economy has fallen steadily– 19% in 1998 to 14% of regional output in 2005.
  • The South West has a comparatively well educated workforce with around 47% of its working age population possessing NVQ3 equivalent (broadly A-levels) or higher qualifications in 2006.
  • In 2006, SW business spent £1.3 billion on R&D.  This is the equivalent of 1.5% of GVA, slightly higher than the English average.  The region has 14,000 full time equivalent employees in R&D, 10% of the national figure.
  • The South West had 437 VAT registered businesses per 10,000 adults in 2006, compared to only 407 nationally.  However, the region had the lowest rate of business registration and deregistration, an indicator of business start ups, of any region - 8.6% and 6.6% (of business stock), respectively.
  • In 2006, SW exports amounted to £11 billion.  South West England exported just £4,978 per employee job in 2006, ranking bottom of all regions and more than a third less than the English average.