This factsheet compares Crawley to the five most similar European cities in size and industrial structure. These are: Haarlemmermeer (Netherlands), Alcorcón (Spain), Leganés (Spain), Reggio di Calabria (Italy) and Salerno (Italy)

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

City group characteristics

Crawley is a small city with a dominant private services and business services sector and a relatively small public sector and 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

Crawley performs well on jobs and employment but does relatively less well on productivity (GVA per worker). It also has a relative low skilled population compared to similar European cities.