Wales

Demography

The latest population of Wales is 2.98 million. (2007)
By 2020 the population is projected to be 3.17 million. There will be 18,000 more children compared with 2007. The working age population is projected to be around 1.9 million.
75% of the 2020 workforce have already left compulsory education.
By 2020, the retirement age population is expected to have increased by 11.3 percent compared with 2007.

According to the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2008 South East Wales and South West Wales have the greatest proportion of LSOAs (13% and 10% respectively) in the 10% most deprived LSOAs in Wales.

Total Gross Value Added in Wales was £44.3 billion in 2007. There are 190,000 active business enterprises in Wales in 2006, while according to the latest estimate from the Labour Force Survey, 1.3 million people were in employment in the 3 months to February 2009.
At £14,877, GVA per head of the population in Wales in 2007 was 74.5 per cent of the UK average , the lowest amongst the devolved countries and English regions.
Hourly productivity in Wales, as measured by GVA per hour worked, was 84.6 per cent of the UK average in 2007.
In 2006, large enterprises (250 or more employees) account for 41 per cent of business sector employees in Wales, compared to 43 per cent across the UK as a whole.

During December 2008 to February 2009, the ILO unemployment rate in Wales stood at 7.5 per cent, above that for the UK as a whole (6.7 per cent).
Over the same period, the employment rate in Wales was 69.8 per cent of the working age population. This was 4 percentage points below the UK average.
There was a small net out-commuting flow of 21,600 working people from Wales to England in 2007. This comprised 81,100 Welsh residents working outside Wales and 59,500 people resident outside Wales who travelled into Wales to work.
In 2007, just under a quarter of people in employment in Wales were employed in the public sector. This same proportion has remained relatively unchanged since 1999.
Over half of jobs in Wales in 2006 were either in the health, education and public administration sectors or in wholesale, retail, hotels and restaurants.
Relative to the UK as a whole, there was a higher percentage of jobs in the health, education and public administration sectors in Wales and a lower proportion in the finance and business activities sectors.

At end 2006, 75 per cent of 16 – 18 year olds were participating in education or some form of training.
79 per cent of year 11 school leavers in 2008 continued in full-time education. 53 per cent of year 11 leavers remaining in full-time education stayed on school while 47 per cent opted to continue to year 12 in a further education college.
At end 2006, 10 per cent of 16-18 year olds were not in education, training or employment (NEET).
In 2007, 12 per cent of male and 16 per cent of female working age adults in Wales had received work related training in the previous 4 weeks.

In 2004 some 450,000 adults in Wales (25% of the total aged 16-65) are at entry level or below in literacy and almost 1 million people (53%) have entry level numeracy skills. Corresponding proportions from the all-England survey are 16% and 47%
In 2007 69 per cent of all adults of working age have a qualification at level 2 or above, with 27 per cent at level 4 or above. 15 per cent of the working age population have no qualifications.

Source: StatsWales

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