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Somerset: Facts & Figures

Somerset: Facts and Figures tells the story of Somerset by means of some key facts and figures about our county. These are drawn from a variety of national, regional and local data sources and together provide a taster of the more comprehensive range of intelligence can be found elsewhere on the Somerset Intelligence website.

This digest of statistics, current at September 2018, is grouped in themes as follows:-

Map of Somerset Districts

People and Neighbourhoods

An estimated 555,195 people live in Somerset (June 2017) (NOMIS MYE)
The population rose by an average of 4,000 per year over the last 5 years (June 2017) (NOMIS MYE)
48% of the population live in a Rural area (England: 18%) (Census 2011)
18% of the current population are children (0 to 15 years) (17.54% in 2016) (NOMIS MYE)
Almost 1 in 4 of the residents of the county are over the age of 65 (23.78% in 2016) (NOMIS MYE)
West Somerset has the highest % of people aged 65+ in the UK (33.7% in 2017) (NOMIS MYE)
There were 5,470 live births in Somerset in 2016 (ONS)

6% of Somerset residents (31,761) were born outside the UK (Census 2011)
Apart from the UK, the most common country of birth was Poland (Census 2011)
Between 2014 and 2017, more than 13,600 migrant workers applied for a National Insurance number (Stat-Xplore)
In the year to June 2017, 3,404 more people moved to Somerset from elsewhere in the UK than left the county. However, amongst those of university-age (18-20), there was a net flow out of Somerset of 2,292 (ONS)
537 Traveller caravans were counted in Somerset in July 2017 (GOV)
27% of Somerset people claimed no religious affiliation in 2011 (Census 2011)

The county comprises:-

5 Districts (Mendip, Sedgemoor, South Somerset, Taunton Deane and West Somerset)
54 County Electoral Divisions
138 District electoral wards
330 Parishes (excluding Taunton, which is ‘unparished’) and 276 parish or town councils

Somerset covers 3,452 square kilometres (1,333 square miles)
420,000 people are eligible to vote in local government elections (Dec 2017) (ONS)

Approximately 150,000 residents volunteer at least once a month (Community Life Survey 2016/17)
40,000 Somerset people live in one of the 20% most deprived areas in England, but 74,000 live in one of England’s 20% least deprived areas. (IMD)

Crime and Community Safety

Avon & Somerset Constabulary has 11 Police stations in Somerset(A&S Police)
Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue (DSFRS) has 24 Fire stations (3 whole-time and on-call, 21 on-call only) in Somerset (D&S Fire)
In Somerset in 2015/16, there were:-

7,118 emergency incidents reported to DSFRS
292 dwelling fires
2,230 Home safety visits and 132 schools talks made by DSFRS

The number of reported casualties on Somerset’s roads in 2016 was 1,553. This represents a 22% decrease since 2012 (Somerset Road Safety)

Health and Wellbeing

Somerset has:-

1 Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)
74 GP practices
2 NHS Hospital Trusts (Musgrove Park, Taunton and Yeovil)
12 NHS community hospitals
103 pharmacies
75 NHS opticians
81 NHS dentists
68 Nursing/Care homes

Life expectancy in Somerset is 80.3 for males and 84.1 for females (December 2017) (ONS)
Cancers and circulatory diseases are the main causes of death in Somerset (52% of the total) (2017). This has decreased slightly in recent years, partly due to coding changed introduced in 2014 (SCC)
There were 4,625 Somerset patients on GP registers in 2016/17 diagnosed with a mental health condition (PHE Fingertips)
In 2011, 58,382 people in Somerset indicated that they provided unpaid care, of which 12,313 did so for at least 50 hours per week (Census 2011)
81% of Somerset people say their health is good or very good (Census 2011)

About 12% of the adult population of Somerset currently smokes (2016) (PHE Fingertips)
66.1% of adult Somerset residents are overweight or obese (APS 2012-14)
22.3% of Somerset reception children and 30.3% of children in Year 6 are overweight or obese (2016/17) (NCMP)
13% of Somerset children under 16 were considered to be living in poverty in 2015, the lowest proportion in the last decade (GOV).
There are 475 looked after children in Somerset (at 31 March 2017) (Somerset Intelligence)

14,234 adults received a package of care in 2015/16 (Somerset Intelligence)
53% of clients with a Learning Disability are able to live in their own home or with family members (2017/18) (SCC Adults Social Care)

Environment and Transport

Around 15% of Somerset is either at or just above sea-level.
The highest point is Dunkery Beacon, at 520m above sea level
Somerset contains:-
1 National Park (Exmoor),

4 Areas of Outstanding National Beauty: the Quantock Hills, Mendip Hills, Blackdown Hills, and part of Cranborne Chase);
127 Sites of Special Scientific Interest

3.12 million passengers used the 10 railway stations in Somerset in 2016/17. Usage has risen 65% in the past decade (Office of Rail and Road)
7.2 million bus passengers a year (2016/17), the lowest for 7 years (GOV)
1,012 licensed taxis and private hire vehicles (down 5% in 10 years) (March 2017) (GOV)
Somerset has 4,235 miles (6,816km) of roads (2017) (GOV)
Somerset collects 264,600 tonnes of waste a year (2016/17) (GOV)
52% of Somerset County Council’s household waste is sent for reuse, recycling or composting (2016/17) (GOV)

Economy and Jobs

Somerset’s economy is worth £11.6 billion (2016) (ONS)
The county has 34,360 businesses (ONS)
77.8% of Somerset’s businesses have fewer than 5 employees (2017) (ONS)
76.5% of people aged 16-64 are employed (2017-18) (NOMIS)

Median gross annual pay for Somerset is £26,532 (UK £28,758) (ASHE NOMIS)
Somerset has a high concentration of employment in the aerospace and food and drink sectors compared with the national level (Somerset Economic Assessment)
4,670 MoD personnel work in Somerset (1st October 2017) (GOV)
Between August 2016-April 2017 there were 4,380 apprenticeship starts in Somerset (GOV)

Education, Skills and Learning

There are 254 state-funded schools (including 86 Academies), 4 FE colleges, 1 Free school and 31 Independent schools in Somerset (January 2018) (GOV)
69,000 pupils attend state-funded schools and 8,300 attend Independent schools (January 2018) (GOV)
63.6% of pupils achieved a standard 9-4 pass in English and Maths GCSEs in 2016/17 (GOV)
74% of students achieved at least 2 A-levels (2016/17) (GOV)
34.3% of Somerset residents aged 16-64 have a Level 4 (degree or equivalent) qualification (2017) (NOMIS)
41% of Somerset pupils go into Higher Education institutions (2015/16) (GOV)
9,902 pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN), 14% of all pupils (January 2017 School Census)
82.4% of schools in Somerset were judged by Ofsted to be good or outstanding in their most recent overall effectiveness judgement (August 2018) (GOV)

Housing

There are about 227,000 households in Somerset in 2011 (Census 2011)
24,562 people claim Housing Benefit (March 2018) (Stat-Xplore)
Median house prices vary from £485,000 in the Beckington and Selwood area of Mendip to £130,000 in parts of Bridgwater (Dec 2017) (ONS)
Lower quartile house prices in West Somerset are 10 times the lower quartile earnings (England: 8 times) (2017) (ONS)
The number of long-term vacant dwellings fell 20% between 2010-17 (GOV)
3,108 dwellings in the county are second homes. In West Somerset, 5% of all dwellings are second homes, the 11th highest of any LA in England (October 2017) (GOV)
A total of 421 households were accepted as being homeless and in priority need during 2016/17 (GOV)
18,700 people in 8,200 households were on the Homefinder Somerset Social Housing register at 31^st March 2017 (Homefinder)

Somerset: Facts & Figures 2018

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76% of Somerset’s businesses have fewer than 5 employees