This factsheet compares Luton to its five most similar European cities in size and industrial structure. These are: Osnabrück (Germany), Almere (Netherlands), Europ’ Essonne (Massy) (France), Lübeck (Germany), Chemnitz (Germany).

Comparing cities in this way helps us to understand more about how well UK cities are competing on an international scale because it groups cities with similar industrial structures, rather than on their resulting economic performance. The factsheet also compares the relative strengths and weaknesses of Luton to its European counterparts on variables such as skills, employment and productivity.

City group characteristics

Luton is a small city and is part of a group with a relatively large private services sector and a similarly sized business and public sector.

Population

Industrial structure

Key

• Manufacturing, mining and utilities 2011
• Business services 2011
• Public services 2011
• Other private services 2011
• Other sectors 2011

Overall economic performance

Luton comes relatively high in its group (third) on productivity (GVA per worker), but tends to rank at the bottom on many other indicators, including patents and employment.