This is a list of cities and conurbations in the United Kingdom sorted by their GDP, a measure of the value of goods and services produced in an area, industry or sector of an economy. The Office for National Statistics produces GDP data in terms of International Territorial Level (ITL). The lowest spatial area for which they are made is ITL 3. Most cities are ITL 3 areas in their own right. Some ITL 3 areas are made up of groups of authorities or metropolitan boroughs, such as the county of Greater Manchester and the conurbation of Tyneside, and tend to reflect high levels of economic coherence.
The table below lists the largest ITL 3 city regions by their GDP using data published by the Office for National Statistics published annually in December. [1]
Rank | City/Conurbation | GDP (£ billions) | GDP per head (£) |
---|---|---|---|
1 | London (Greater London) | 562.179 | 63,407 |
2 | Manchester (Greater Manchester) | 99.714 | 34,246 |
3 | Birmingham (West Midlands) | 85.192 | 28,841 |
4 | Leeds (West Yorkshire) | 74.405 | 31,287 |
5 | Liverpool (Merseyside) | 45.413 | 28,906 |
6 | Edinburgh | 31.802 | 60,764 |
7 | Glasgow | 28.439 | 45,041 |
8 | Tyneside [note 1] | 26.116 | 30,211 |
9 | Bristol | 21.098 | 44,043 |
10 | Cardiff and Vale of Glamorgan | 17.839 | 35,285 |
11 | Sheffield | 17.494 | 30,896 |
12 | Belfast | 17.338 | 49,821 |
13 | Milton Keynes | 16.207 | 55,470 |
14 | Bournemouth and Poole | 13.685 | 34,051 |
15 | Nottingham | 12.691 | 38,631 |
16 | Brighton & Hove | 12.234 | 44,013 |
17 | Leicester | 11.139 | 29,831 |
18 | Southampton | 10.993 | 43,503 |
19 | Derby | 9.341 | 35,451 |
20 | Portsmouth | 8.377 | 40,194 |
21 | York | 8.351 | 40,828 |
22 | Sunderland | 8.216 | 29,623 |
23 | Peterborough | 8.004 | 36,764 |
24 | Plymouth | 7.922 | 29,686 |
25 | Kingston upon Hull | 7.861 | 29,240 |
26 | Stoke-on-Trent | 7.723 | 29,709 |
27 | Luton | 7.632 | 33,624 |
28 | Swansea | 6.641 | 27,525 |
Metropolitan counties are a subdivision of England which were originally used for local government. There are six metropolitan counties: Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
Tyne and Wear is a ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne.
The administrative geography of the United Kingdom is complex, multi-layered and non-uniform. The United Kingdom, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe, consists of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. For local government in the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each have their own system of administrative and geographic demarcation. Consequently, there is "no common stratum of administrative unit encompassing the United Kingdom".
A conurbation is a region comprising a number of metropolises, cities, large towns, and other urban areas which, through population growth and physical expansion, have merged to form one continuous urban or industrially developed area. In most cases, a conurbation is a polycentric urbanised area in which transportation has developed to link areas. They create a single urban labour market or travel to work area.
South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is bordered by all four other boroughs in Tyne and Wear: Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, North Tyneside to the north and Newcastle upon Tyne to the north-west. The border county of Northumberland lies further north. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the County Borough of South Shields with the municipal borough of Jarrow and the urban districts of Boldon and Hebburn from County Durham.
The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of International Territorial Level for statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. The region consists of the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. The region has seven cities; Birmingham, Coventry, Hereford, Lichfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Worcester.
The West Midlands conurbation is the large conurbation in the West Midlands region of England. The area consists of two cities and numerous towns: to the east, the city of Birmingham, along with adjacent towns of Solihull and Sutton Coldfield; and to the west, the city of Wolverhampton and the area called the Black Country, containing the towns of Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Oldbury, Willenhall, Bilston, Darlaston, Tipton, Smethwick, Wednesbury, Rowley Regis, Stourbridge and Halesowen.
North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend.
The Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It includes Gateshead, Rowlands Gill, Whickham, Blaydon, Ryton, Felling, Birtley, Pelaw, Dunston and Low Fell. The borough forms part of the Tyneside conurbation, centred on Newcastle upon Tyne. At the 2021 census, the borough had a population of 196,154.
International Territorial Level (ITL) is a geocode standard for referencing the subdivisions of the United Kingdom for statistical purposes, used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). From 2003 and until 2020 it functioned as part of the European Union and European Statistical System's geocode standard Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics or NUTS.
The Birmingham Metropolitan Area is an urban agglomeration located in the West Midlands region of England with a population of around 4.3 million people, making it the second largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom. It comprises the three cities and four metropolitan boroughs which make up the Metropolitan county of the West Midlands, along with its commuter zones, which extend into the neighbouring district authorities of Bromsgrove and Redditch in Worcestershire; Cannock Chase, Lichfield, South Staffordshire and Tamworth in Staffordshire; and all five district authorities of Warwickshire, including the towns of Bedworth, Coleshill, Nuneaton, Royal Leamington Spa, and Warwick itself.
The Greater Manchester Built-up Area is an area of land defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), consisting of the large conurbation that encompasses the urban element of the city of Manchester and the metropolitan area that forms much of Greater Manchester in North West England. According to the United Kingdom Census 2011, the Greater Manchester Built-up Area has a population of 2,553,379 making it the second most populous conurbation in the United Kingdom after the Greater London Built-up Area. This was an increase of 14% from the population recorded at the United Kingdom Census 2001 of 2,240,230, when it was known as the Greater Manchester Urban Area.
The demography of Greater Manchester is analysed by the Office for National Statistics and data is produced for each of its ten metropolitan boroughs, each of the Greater Manchester electoral wards, the NUTS3 statistical sub-regions, each of the Parliamentary constituencies in Greater Manchester, the 15 civil parishes in Greater Manchester, and for all of Greater Manchester as a whole; the latter of which had a population of 2,682,500 at the 2011 UK census. Additionally, data is produced for the Greater Manchester Urban Area. Statistical information is produced about the size and geographical breakdown of the population, the number of people entering and leaving country and the number of people in each demographic subgroup.
The regions of England, formerly known as the government office regions, are the highest tier of sub-national division in England. They were established in 1994 and follow the 1974–96 county borders. They are a continuation of the former 1940s standard regions which followed the 1889–1974 administrative county borders. Between 1994 and 2011, all nine regions had partly devolved functions; they no longer fulfil this role, continuing to be used for limited statistical purposes.
International Territorial Level (ITL) is a geocode standard for referencing the subdivisions of the United Kingdom for statistical purposes, used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Between 2003 and 2021, as part of the European Union and European Statistical System, the geocode standard used for the United Kingdom were Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics or NUTS. The NUTS code for the UK was UK and the NUTS standard had a hierarchy of three levels, with 12 first level regions, which are currently mirrored by the ITL classification, of which 9 regions are in England. The sub-structure corresponds to administrative divisions within the country. Formerly, the further NUTS divisions IV and V existed; these have now been replaced by Local Administrative Units . Between 1994 and 2011, the nine regions had an administrative role in the implementation of UK Government policy, and as the areas covered by elected bodies.
Greater London is the administrative area of London, which is coterminous with the London region. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a ceremonial county also called Greater London, and the City of London. The Greater London Authority is responsible for strategic local government across the region, and regular local government is the responsibility of the borough councils and the City of London Corporation. Greater London is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Hertfordshire to the north, Essex to the north-east, Kent to the south-east, Surrey to the south, and Berkshire and Buckinghamshire to the west.
South Tyneside Council is the local authority of for the metropolitan borough of South Tyneside in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. It is one of five metropolitan boroughs in Tyne and Wear and one of 36 in England. It provides the majority of local government services in South Tyneside. The council has been under Labour majority control since 1979. It is based at South Shields Town Hall. The council is a constituent member of the North East Mayoral Combined Authority.