05 September, 2017
London has maintained its position as the UK's centre of prosperity over the a year ago, according to the third edition of the annual UK Prosperity Map from Barclays Wealth & Investments.
According to the study, average earnings are the third highest in the United Kingdom, rising by 2.5 per cent over the year to £27,032, but Scotland lags behind in other indicators.
The number of millionaires living in Northern Ireland slumped past year to 13,000 people but overall prosperity levels jumped thanks to a big increase in average earnings, latest research shows.
It also considers educational attainment, an area Northern Ireland continuously excels in and this year topped the rankings with 69.7% of those taking GCSEs achieving five or more A*-C grades including Maths and English.
Northern Ireland has gained 1,000 more millionaires in the previous year, according to newly released figures.
The third annual UK Prosperity Map produced by Barclays also rated eastern England, Northern Ireland, the...
Barclays data shows that the number of United Kingdom millionaires increased, jumping 7.6% year-on-year, with every region excluding Scotland seeing an increase in wealthy individuals.
"A recent influx of foreign direct investment appears to be driving earnings growth which is helping to drive employment, and this, combined with our strong educational achievements and quality of life, accounts for our boost in prosperity over the last calendar year".
"That said, we still have a long way to go".
Paul Swinney, principal economist at the Centre for Cities think tank, said: "Overall, this year's UK Prosperity Map shows that the greater South East is still outperforming the rest of the country economically, based on its ability to attract in high-skilled business investment".
The new figures are a contrast to the respected Income Tracker produced by Asda which continually shows households getting by on around half the disposable income of the rest of the United Kingdom after essential costs are taken away.
Nearly every major city has seen higher house price growth than London, up 3%, with the average asking price up 8% in Birmingham and 7% in Manchester.
However, with an average house price of £502,787, London continued to hold the claim of the UK's highest house prices.
According to Barclays' 2017 UK Prosperity Map, areas including London, the North East, North West and South West, as well as Wales and Scotland, have seen a drop in their overall affluence.
While, at a regional level, London has the UK's highest business birth-to-death ratio, with 1.78 new businesses created for every business "death", the capital remains a challenging environment for SMEs.