This factsheet compares Southampton to the five most similar European cities by size and industrial structure. These are: Thessaloniki (Greece) Malmö (Sweden) Alicante (Spain) Antwerp (Belgium) Strasbourg (France)

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 Southampton to its European counterparts on variables such as skills, employment and productivity.

City group characteristics

Southampton is a medium-sized city and has a large private services sector and a small manufacturing 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

Southampton has a high employment rate compared to the rest of its group, and tends to rank in the middle on other indicators.