City drops in prosperity rankings

Worcester has been placed amongst the bottom third worst performing areas on a new regional prosperity index – dropping more than 100 places in a decade.

The city was ranked 262nd out of 379 local authorities in the UK on the Legatum Institute’s Centre for UK Prosperity which uses 256 indicators based on the latest available data to provide a comprehensive assessment of institutional, economic and social wellbeing across 379 local authorities.

Worcester dropped more than 100 places from 160th in 2011 to 262nd.

The institute used traditional indicators such as infrastructure and transport alongside the safety and security of communities, people’s physical and mental health and the conditions for local enterprise as measures for its index.

Worcester’s worst performing measure was education where the city ranked 315th out of 379 local authorities followed by 280th for ‘investment environment’ and 272nd for health.

The city was also ranked 241st for social capital – which measures the strength of family, personal and social relationships, institutional trust, and civic participation – and 226th for ‘infrastructure’ – which looks at quality of the infrastructure that enables commerce and business activity – and 223rd for safety and security.

The highest indicator the city ranked in was for the ‘natural environment’ – which measures the aspects of the physical environment that have a direct effect on people in their daily lives and changes that might impact the prosperity of future generations – ranking 142nd and ‘enterprise conditions’ – which measures the degree to which regulations enable businesses to start, compete, and expand – where the city ranked 140th out of 379 local authorities.

The index also showed the city was ranked 151st for ‘personal freedom’ – which measures progress towards basic legal rights, individual liberties and social tolerance.

Wychavon, which includes Evesham, Pershore and Droitwich, was ranked 222nd out of 379 local authorities – dropping from 122nd in 2011 – and Malvern Hills was ranked 199th – dropping from 73rd in 2011.