A Brief Look at the County of Somerset
Somerset is a medium sized county with an area of 3450 square kilometres and a population of 498,093 (2001 Census).  South Somerset has the largest population of the five districts in Somerset, followed by Sedgemoor, Mendip and Taunton Deane, which have very similar populations. The population of West Somerset is the smallest.

There are a total of 210,587 households in Somerset and the majority of those (74%) are owner occupied. Council rentals account for 7% of households in the county. The average household in Somerset comprises 2.31 people. 27% of Somerset households have dependent children and 28% are pensioners.

The county boasts quite a large cultural and heritage sector, which in turn promotes tourism on a national and international level. There are 11,500 buildings listed as special architectural or historic interest; 523 scheduled ancient monuments; 192 conservation areas; 41 parks and gardens; 36 English Heritage sites, and 19 National Trust sites. The total spend of staying and day visitors in Somerset is estimated to have been approximately £900 million in 2001. (See our Tourism in Somerset page for more information).

The electorate in Somerset tend towards a higher turnout in elections than the nation as a whole. It is particularly notable that two-thirds of the eligible population voted in the last general election. Local elections across the districts had an average turnout of 33% in 1999 and 40% in 2003.

Overall Somerset has a stable and successful economy, with many economic indicators performing better than the regional and national averages. Over the last decade Somerset has maintained a steady level of economic growth, low unemployment and continuous job growth.

Business dynamism has been good in Somerset between in recent years. VAT registrations increased in number in most of the Somerset districts with the stock of VAT registered businesses seeing an overall increase. Cambridge Econometrics latest forecasts predict that employment will increase by 0.3% p.a. in the next 10 years, with GVA predicted to increase by 2.2% p.a. over the same period. International exports are relatively low compared with the rest of the UK, but growing.

Business start-up rates in Somerset are lower than the regional and national averages. Of the districts West Somerset has the lowest business start-up rate, which could possibly reflect the predominantly rural nature of this district. In the more urban districts business start-up rates are higher, which could be due to factors such as better infrastructure and larger pools of labour.

84% of firms in Somerset employ less than 10 people. This is the same in the South West as a whole but higher than the national figure of 83%. In all other firm sizes in Somerset are broadly in line with the South West and the UK.