Small area GVA data

Economic output by small area 

GVA output in the North East is concentrated in a relatively small number of local areas. In 2021 the 5% output areas with the largest contribution to the North East total accounted for 50% of GVA in the North East. This concentration has been becoming more pronounced over time too. In 1998 the top 5% accounted for 44% of total GVA and in 2009 they accounted for 47%. 

Most of the GVA in the North East is produced in urban areas. These accounted for 85% of total output in 2021, with a further 15% being produced in rural areas. 21% of output was produced in coastal towns, which overlaps with the urban and rural classifications used above.

The proportion of output from rural areas has increased more rapidly than urban areas since 2009. This is mostly due to very large increases in output in a couple of lower super output areas (probably due to the opening of new business parks and office blocks, so this may change the classifications of these areas in the next update). Output from coastal areas has grown more slowly than both urban and rural areas.
 

Economic output by built-up area 

All but one of the built-up areas in the North East with a population greater than 25,000 have seen the overall size of their output increase since 2009, with the one exception being Peterlee in County Durham. In percentage terms the largest increases have been in Longbenton and Ashington, and to a lesser extent Cramlington and Newton Aycliffe. Newcastle upon Tyne has seen the largest absolute increase in output.

In terms of output per worker, Longbenton had the highest level of productivity of these built-up areas in the North East in 2020, followed by Cramlington, Tynemouth and Washington. The area with the highest rate of productivity growth since 2009 was Ashington, which had low productivity per worker at the start of this period. Newcastle also saw significant productivity growth over the period, partially explaining its large increase in overall output between 2009 and 2021. 

Comparing subregional economies 

Compared to the other core cities in England the North East is relatively unique in having both a large rural and coastal economy. Only D2N2, the LEP area for Derby and Nottingham has a comparable contribution from rural areas of 18% of total output, while only Liverpool also has a coastal contribution of over 20%. The West of England has significant contribution from coastal and rural areas, but these still are not on the same scale as the North East. This highlights how the economic geography of the North East is relatively unique and will have its own dynamics compared to other regions. 

In contrast the North East is about average for the core cities in terms of the concentration of GVA in a few small areas. London is an outlier compared to other cities in the UK on this metric with over two thirds of its GVA being contributed by the 5% of areas with the largest outputs.