Total Income From Farming Up Across The Country

The second estimate of agriculture in the English regions from Defra suggests that total income from all farming increased significantly in all NUTS1 regions in 2011. The North East had the largest increase with 38% and the East Midlands had the next largest increase with 33% on 2010. The smallest increases were in the North West and the West Midlands with a 20% increase in each.

Total income from farming has increased in all NUTS1 regions, in the medium term, between 2005 and 2011. The South East has seen increases of 364 to 464 and the North East 191 to 291. The smallest increases were in the East of England (224%) and the West Midlands (225%).

The relative importance of agriculture to each region can be seen in its share of regional gross value added (GVA) and the regional workforce. The greatest contribution to GVA in 2011 was made in the South West with 1.3% and the least in the South East with 0.19%. In England as a whole agriculture contributed 0.64% to GVA.

Agriculture made its greatest contribution to the regional workforce in the South West with 2.22% and the least in the South East with 0.5%. The industry contributed 1.1% to the workforce in England as a whole.

GVA Fall In All Regions 2009

Gross Value Added (GVA) GVA and GVA per head fell in all regions of the UK in 2009 due to the impact of the recession. There was still a wide variation in the extent of the effect. The East of England had the biggest fall. Scotland had the smallest decline. London had the highest share of GVA in the UK with 21.5% and the South East was next with 14.3%. The North East had the lowest share in England with 3.3%. England had 85.8% of GVA and N. Ireland 2.3% (of the 12 NUTS1 Levels).

At the level of the 37 NUTS2 sub-regions, the top five included Inner London and North East Scotland the bottom five included West Wales and the Valleys, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Lincolnshire and Tees Valley and Durham. London had the biggest share of GVA per head with £60,686 the lowest was West Wales and the Valleys with £12,860. GVA per head increased in all NUTS2 sub-regions in 2008.

Breaking the statistics down to the 133 NUTS3 local areas level the top area was Inner London West the bottom area the Isle of Anglesey. The City of Edinburgh was second highest and then Inner London East.

Regional Unemployment in EU

Regional unemployment rates vary considerably across the EU27 with 28 of the 271 NUTS 2 regions with an unemployment rate of under 4.4% and 13 regions over 17.8%, 9 in Spain and 4 in French overseas departments.

Ageing In The European Union

Ageing in the context of EU statistics is the increase over time of the percentage share of the over 65 age group in the total population of a given area. It is increasing in the EU because of two factors. The first is that the number of people over 65 is growing and the second is because the number of children in age group 0-14 year is getting smaller. This is a general picture though and there are considerable variations in the types of area and NUTS3 areas.

The release from Eurostat tells us that rural areas are losing their young people faster than urban areas. It presents the populaton changes in 1158 NUTS3 areas of 26 member states (not UK) between 2001-2006. It takes the level of rurality of NUTS3 into account for three age groups - 0-14, 15-64, 65 and over. The changes mean variations in the population's composition.

The total population of EU27 has increased by 1.9% or 8,217,047 people with an increase of 9,708,045 people in the EU15 offset by a decrease in the new member states of 1,490,998 people or -1.4%. The 0-14 age group has decreased by 4.4%, the 15-64 age group increased by 1.9% and the over 65s by 8.9% or 5,961,157 people. A contrast can be seen between the 'old' and 'new' member states. In the new member states the 0-14 age group shrank by 14% and the over 65s increased by 5.3%. The over 65s in the EU15 increeased by 9.8%.

The types of area (TOA) analysis also show remarkable results. Ageing continues at a more pronounced rate in predominantly urban areas (46%), except in Spain and remained the same in Ireland and Sweden. Only 16.5% of the increase can be attributed to rural areas in EU27 where 21.4% of the population live. The combined effect of the two factors influencing population change mean that Germany, Greece and Latvia show a rapidly ageing population while France, Spain, Portugal and Italy, where over 20% of the population in rural areas is over 65, show smaller and even negative growth. In Bulgaria there has been a 5% population loss overall with a 10% loss in predominantly rural areas. It is also significant that in there areas the percentage of children fell by up to 17%. Also in Bulgaria where the number of over 65s fell by 4% they were not replaced by numbers from the working population.

The highest population gains at NUTS3 level were in Spain and Ireland with Guadalajara in Spain, an intermediate area, gaining 24.5% in population. At the other extreme Bulgaria and Germany decreased the most in population. The population of Kardzhali in Bulgaria, a predominantly rural area, decreased by 21%. The German areas were exclusively in the former East Germany. Barnim in Germany, an intermediate area, saw the highest increase in people aged 65 and over with an increase of 33.3% with Neubrandenburg on 33.2% and Potsdam on 32.9%. Vratsa, a predominantly rural area in Bulgaria, saw an decrease of 15.9% in the same age group. The highest increase in the over 65 age group was in Germany and the growth was not limited to the east but covered large areas of the west as well.

There were contrasts between east and west Germany and between north and south Italy. Only Berlin in eastern Germany grew in population size. Areas of northern Italy grew while the population of the south of Italy decreased.