Appendices

Appendix A


Mid Suffolk Population Demographic's:

Total number of people in Mid-Suffolk:                                86837
Aged 0 to 15                                                                17150
Aged 16 to 74                                                        62450
Aged 75 and over                                                        7237

Work status (all people aged 16-74):

Employed                                                                41478
Unemployed                                                                1256
Long-term unemployed                                                285
Student (economically active)                                        1252
Retired                                                                9619
Student (economically inactive)                                        1527
Looking after home/family                                                4167
Permanently sick or disabled                                        1884
Other inactive                                                        1267

Qualifications (all people aged 16-74)
Qualifications at degree level or higher                                10979
No qualifications                                                        17439

                                                                       Mid Suffolk        England & Wales

Total number of full-time students and schoolchildren                2,719                2,648,992
Percentage of total resident population                                3.1                5.1
Total number aged 16 to 17                                        1,697                1,014,284
Total number aged 18 to 74                                        1,022                1,634,708

Needham Market population (1996)                                4330
Needham Market & Surrounding Parishes (2004)                8800
(MSDC Community Strategy, 2004 & NMTHC, 2004)

According to the mid-2003 population estimates there were 87,300 people residing in Mid Suffolk, of whom 49.9 per cent were male and 50.2 per cent were female. Children under five accounted for approximately 5 per cent of the resident population of Mid Suffolk. This compares with almost 6 per cent for England and Wales overall.
In mid-2003, 20.8 per cent of the resident population in Mid Suffolk were of retirement age (65 and over for males or 60 and over for females) compared with 18.5 per cent in England and Wales.

In the twenty years between 1982 and 2002 the population of Mid Suffolk grew by 22.7 per cent , compared with an increase of 11.2 per cent for East of England region as a whole. Population density of Mid Suffolk averaged 101 people per square kilometre, compared with an average of 284, for the region and 380 people per square kilometre for England overall.

According to the 2004 English Indices of Multiple Deprivation, Mid Suffolk has an overall rank of 297 out of 354 local authorities. It has a rank of 304 on the income measure. Mid Suffolk also scores low on Access to "Education Skills and Training".

Of the people in Mid Suffolk who were of working age (i.e. those aged 16 to 64 for men or 16 to 59 for women) the employment rate was 78.1 per cent during the Summer of 2004 (June to August), compared with an average for Great Britain of 75 per cent. Over the same three months in 1999, the number of people in employment in Mid Suffolk as a proportion of those of working age was 82 per cent and the rate for Great Britain was 74.7 per cent.
According to the 2001 Census, 25.48 per cent of unemployed people in Mid Suffolk were aged 50 or over, 4.54 per cent had never worked and 22.69 per cent were long-term unemployed.

Between September 1999 and September 2004 the number of young people aged 18 to 24 years who were claiming work-related benefits increased by 20 per cent in Mid Suffolk, compared to a reduction of 30.7 per cent in Great Britain overall.

(www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk)