Ethnicity
{| class="wikitable"
! rowspan="3" |Ethnic group
! colspan="8" |Year
|-
! colspan="2" |1991
! colspan="2" |2001
! colspan="2" |2011
! colspan="2" |2021
! colspan="2" |2011
! colspan="2" |2001
|-
!Number
!
!Number
!
!Number
!
|-
|Christianity
| 2,635,872
| 46.2%
| 3,194,066
| 60.4%
| 3,646,488
| 74.0%
|-
|Islam
| 80,152
| 1.4%
| 51,228
| 1.0%
| 23,465
| 0.5%
|-
|Hinduism
| 27,746
| 0.5%
| 16,324
| 0.3%
| 8,288
| 0.2%
|-
|Buddhism
| 24,579
| 0.4%
| 19,730
| 0.4%
| 11,299
| 0.2%
|-
|Sikhism
| 7,465
| 0.1%
| 5,892
| 0.1%
| 4,614
| 0.1%
|-
|Judaism
| 7,387
| 0.1%
| 6,365
| 0.1%
| 6,747
| 0.1%
|-
|Other religion
| 36,884
| 0.6%
| 29,279
| 0.6%
| 18,221
| 0.4%
|-
|No religion
| 2,513,369
| 44.1%
| 1,549,201
| 29.3%
| 825,461
| 16.7%
|-
|Religion not stated
| 367,732
| 6.5%
| 416,850
| 7.9%
| 383,851
| 7.8%
|-
!Total population
! 5,701,186
! 100%
! 5,288,935
! 100%
! 4,928,434
! 100%
|-
|}
Housing
35% of people in the region own their homes outright, with no debt, the highest in the UK. The Cotswold district had the biggest house price increases in the region, and the second-biggest in the UK outside of London and the South-East, in a March 2015 survey. Weymouth and Portland has the highest council tax in England. West Somerset has the lowest average full-time pay at £287; West Somerset is also the district where poor children do much worse than wealthier children at school, with some of the worst differences in the UK, according to Ambition School Leadership.
Teenage pregnancy
For top-tier authorities, Torbay has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the region, with Exeter the highest rate for council districts. For top-tier authorities, North Somerset (closely followed by Bath & NE Somerset) has the lowest rate, with Cotswold having the lowest rate for council districts.
Health
The population in the region with the highest obesity level is Sedgemoor in Somerset, with 73.4%, the fifth in the UK. North Dorset has the lowest proportion of cancer deaths in England – 97 per 100,000 (the England average is 142 per 100,000), down from 162 ten years earlier.
In the 2011 census, East Dorset had the highest rate of marriage in the UK; East Dorset also has the third-highest life expectancy for men in the UK at 82.7.
Crime
For England and Wales in 2015, Wiltshire has the fourth-lowest crime rate, and Devon and Cornwall has the fifth-lowest.
Deprivation
As measured by the English Indices of Deprivation 2007, the region shows similarities with Southern England in having more Lower Layer Super Output Areas in the 20% least multiple deprived districts than the 20% most deprived. The relative amount of deprivation is similar to the East Midlands, except the South West has many fewer deprived areas. According to the LSOA data in 2007, the most deprived districts (before Cornwall became a unitary authority) were, in descending order: Bristol (64th in England), Torbay (71st), Plymouth (77th), Kerrier (86th), Restormel (89th), North Cornwall (96th), and West Somerset (106th). At county level, the deprived areas are City of Bristol (49th in England), Torbay (55th), Plymouth (58th), and Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly (69th).
The least deprived council districts are, in descending order: East Dorset, North Wiltshire, South Gloucestershire, Cotswold, Kennet, Stroud, Tewkesbury, West Wiltshire, Salisbury, and Bath and North East Somerset. At county level, the least deprived areas, in descending order, are South Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Bath and North East Somerset, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Poole, North Somerset, and Somerset. For smaller areas, the least-deprived in the region are E01015563 (139th in England) – Shaw and Nine Elms ward, in north Swindon; E01014791 (163rd in England) – Portishead East ward, in North Somerset off the A369 in Portishead and North Weston; E01020377 (184th in England) – Colehill East ward, in East Dorset, east of Wimborne Minster.
In March 2011, the region had the second-lowest unemployment claimant count in England, second to South East England, with 2.7%. Inside the region, Torbay has the highest rate with 4.5%, followed by Bristol and Plymouth with 3.8%. East Dorset has the lowest rate with 1.4%.
Language
The Cornish language evolved from the Southwestern dialect of the Brittonic language spoken during the Iron Age and Roman period. The area controlled by the Britons was progressively reduced by the expansion of Wessex after the 6th century, and in 936 Athelstan set the east bank of the Tamar as the boundary between Anglo-Saxon Wessex and Celtic Cornwall. The Cornish language continued to flourish during the Middle Ages but declined thereafter, and the last speaker of traditional Cornish died in the 19th century. Geographical names derived from the British language are widespread in South West England, and include several examples of the River Avon, from abonā = "river" (cf. Welsh afon), and the words "tor" and "combe".
Until the 19th century, the West Country and its dialects of the English language were largely protected from outside influences, due to its relative geographical isolation. The West Country dialects derive not from a corrupted form of modern English, but from the Southwestern dialects of Middle English, which themselves derived from the dialects of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Wessex. Late West Saxon, which formed the earliest English language standard, from the time of King Alfred until the late 11th century, is the form in which the majority of Anglo-Saxon texts are preserved. Thomas Spencer Baynes claimed in 1856 that, due to its position at the heart of the Kingdom of Wessex, the relics of Anglo-Saxon accent, idiom and vocabulary were best preserved in the Somerset dialect. There is some influence from the Welsh and Cornish languages, depending on the specific location.
West Country dialects are commonly represented as "Mummerset", a kind of catchall southern rural accent invented for broadcasting.
Economy and industry
thumb|left|Historic docks on [[Bristol Harbour, within the region's most productive economy]]
thumb|left|Since the decline of mining, Cornwall's economy has been reliant on agriculture and tourism
The most economically productive areas within the region are Bristol, the M4 corridor and south east Dorset, which are the areas with the best links to London. Bristol alone accounts for a quarter of the region's economy, with the surrounding areas of Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire accounting for a further quarter.
Bristol's economy has been built on maritime trade, including the import of tobacco and the slave trade. Since the early 20th century, however, aeronautics have taken over as the basis of Bristol's economy, with companies including Airbus UK, Rolls-Royce (military division) and BAE Systems (former Bristol Aeroplane Company then BAC) manufacturing in Filton. Defence Equipment & Support is at MoD Abbey Wood. More recently defence, telecommunications, information technology and electronics have been important industries in Bristol, Swindon and elsewhere. The Driver & Vehicle Standards Agency, the Soil Association, Clerical Medical, and Bristol Water are in Bristol; Indesit makes tumble dryers in Yate; HP and Infineon Technologies UK are at Stoke Gifford. Knorr-Bremse UK make air brakes in Emersons Green. The South West Observatory's Economy Module provides a detailed analysis of the region's economy.
The region's Gross value added (GVA) breaks down as 69.9% service industry, 28.1% production industry and 2.0% agriculture. This is a slightly higher proportion in production, and lower proportion in services, than the UK average. Agriculture, though in decline, is important in many parts of the region. Dairy farming is especially important in Dorset and Devon, and the region has 1.76 million cattle, second to only one other UK region, and of grassland, more than any other region. Only 5.6% of the region's agriculture is arable.
In 2001 the GVA of the hotel industry was £2,200 million, and the region had 13,800 hotels with 250,000 bed spaces. parts of Cornwall have among the lowest average incomes in Northern Europe.
thumb|Vegetable crop south of Ludgvan
The region's Manufacturing Advisory Service is on the A38 north of Gloucester at Twigworth, and the UK Trade & Investment office is at the Leigh Court Business Centre in Abbots Leigh, North Somerset.
Cornwall
thumb|left|[[Dairy Crest have their main cheese creamery in Davidstow making Cathedral City Cheddar and Davidstow Cheddar on the former RAF Davidstow Moor, and important wartime RAF Coastal Command airfield bought by Cow & Gate in the 1950s]]
Major companies in Cornwall include Imerys who are major producers of kaolin. Rodda's make clotted cream near Scorrier, off the A30 east of Redruth. Fugro Seacore in Mongleath near Falmouth are leading offshore drilling contractors; Pendennis makes luxury yachts at Falmouth Docks. Kensa Heat Pumps are west of Truro. Cornish Country Larder, owned by Arla, make cheese (Cornish Brie) at Trevarrian on the B3276 in Mawgan-in-Pydar, north of Newquay Airport (former RAF St Mawgan).
Allen & Heath make mixing consoles in Penryn. Fourth Element (wet suits) are on the A3083 at Cury, south of RNAS Culdrose and Helston. A.P. Valves make diving equipment in Helston off the B3297 on Water-Ma-Trout Ind Estate, next to Helston Community College; Spiral Construction is the UK's leading manufacturer of spiral staircases.
Gul (clothing) (watersports clothing) are on Callywith Gate Ind Est in Cooksland Bodmin at the
western end of the A38, on the north end of the Bodmin bypass; C-Skins (wetsuits) are on the Walker Lines Ind Est, south of Bodmin on the B3268; Fitzgerald Lighting are west of the Carminow Cross junction. GCHQ Bude is an important radar station in Morwenstow. On the other side of the river from Devonport is HMS Raleigh, off the A374 at Torpoint, home of the Royal Navy Submarine School (moved from HMS Dolphin in Gosport in 1999) and its Submarine Command Course; it provides all the training for the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR).
thumb|right|[[Ginsters have a food production plant in Callington, off the A390 between Liskeard and Tavistock]]
Cornwall has become reliant on tourism, more so than the other counties of the South West. In 2010 Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly had the lowest GVA per head of any county or unitary authority in England. It contributes only 7.4% of the region's economy and has received EU Convergence funding (formerly Objective One funding) since 2000. Over four million people visit the county each year. The reasons for Cornwall's poor economic performance are complex and apparently persistent, but causes include its remoteness and poor transport links,
Devon
thumb|left|The [[Met Office, with cumulus humilis cloud; the Met Office Cray XC40 (previously a Power 775) computer takes 4.8m weather observations per year; Robert FitzRoy, who founded it in 1872, made the first weather forecast on 1 August 1861 in The Times; isobars were invented in the late 1800s; two bodies produce windspeed for pilots around the world - the Met Office and the NOAA ]]
The Met Office is in Exeter, as are Pennon Group, the water company, Pedigree Dolls & Toys (Sindy doll), and Thrifty Car Rental UK, which is at Ashton Business Centre in St Thomas on the A377 opposite the Exeter Retail Park. The airline Flybe was based at Exeter Airport until 2019; Plymouth City Airport closed in 2011. Chatham Marine clothing and footwear is off the B3123 on the Marsh Barton Trading Estate, near Alphington. Eclipse Internet and EDF Energy are in the same building south-east of the Met Office next to the M5; Stovax Group, who make wood and gas-burning stoves, are further south on Sowton Ind Est next to Alcoa Howmet UK, who make vacuum alloy airfoil castings for industrial gas turbines. DEFRA have a main site for Devon at Winslade Park, to the east at Clyst St Mary; nearby to the south on the A376 is the HQ of Devon & Somerset Fire & Rescue Service. Dormakaba UK, at Tiverton, are a world-leader in turnstiles, revolving doors and locks; Heathcoat Fabrics make the DecelAir fabric for parachutes. Taw Valley cheese is made by Arla Foods UK (former Milk Link) at North Tawton off the A3124, also the HQ of Gregory Distribution.
XYZ Machine Tools is off the A38 close to the M5 bridge in Burlescombe near the Somerset boundary. The Donkey Sanctuary is in Sidmouth. Axminster Carpets makes carpets for every Wetherspoons pub.
Appledore Shipbuilders are based at Appledore, Torridge, Devon, three miles north of Bideford, who built sections of the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers. Parker Hannifin have their instrumentation division next to the Taw Bridge (A361) at Pottington in Barnstaple; CQC makes personal equipment and Osprey body armour; off the A361 towards Barnstaple, is a chipboard (Conti and Caberboard) plant of Norbord. Next to Royal Marines Base Chivenor, Perrigo makes Germolene and own-label OTC medicines at the Wrafton Laboratories in Heanton Punchardon on the A361. Actavis UK (former Cox Pharmaceuticals, part of Hoechst AG), off the A361 east of Barnstaple, make levothyroxine and other thyroid hormones. Dartington Crystal in Torrington makes Royal Brierley. Pall Europe make filtration products in Ilfracombe.
All Ambrosia (former Unilever) products are made at the Ambrosia Creamery in Lifton, off the A30 on the River Lyd. Parkham Farms make Westcountry Farmhouse Cheddar at Woolfardisworthy, Torridge. SC Group (Supacat) at Dunkeswell Aerodrome, north of Honiton, make protective vehicles for the Army, notably the Jackal; these vehicles are also made in Plymouth by Babcock International formerly Devonport Management Limited (DML); Oceanic Worldwide UK makes scuba diving gear. Quested make high-end loudspeakers on Heathpark Ind Est, west of Honiton, next to the railway.
Centrax make industrial gas turbines in Newton Abbot; to the north-west, on the A38 at the A382 junction at Heathfield in Bovey Tracey, British Ceramic Tile have the largest ceramic tile plant in Europe. Suttons Seeds is in Paignton; AVX, off the A3022, was a worldwide site for tantalum capacitors, until the company moved production to the Czech Republic in 2009. Britannia Royal Naval College is at Dartmouth.
thumb|right|[[Princess Yachts make motor yachts off the A374 in Stonehouse ]]
HMNB Devonport (HMS Drake, the largest naval base in western Europe) is in Plymouth. Toshiba had a large presence in Ernesettle, in the north of Plymouth, which was the second-largest employer after the Royal Navy, until they moved production of televisions to Kobierzyce in Poland in 2009; it made its last television at the site on 27 August 2009; Vispring (beds) is next to Kawasaki Precision Machinery. Snowbee make fishing tackle. The headquarters of the UK Commando Force is at Stonehouse Barracks. The Range (home and leisure) is on the B3432 in Estover east of Plymouth Airport; opposite is Fine Tubes and further east Barden make ball-bearings for the aerospace industry; on the furthest east of the industrial estate is Wrigley Company UK; its Extra brand is the second best-selling confectionery in the UK after Dairy Milk.
thumb|left|The [[Trafalgar-class submarine|Trafalgar-class HMS Talent (S92) at Devonport in February 2008]]
X-Fab UK (semiconductor fabrication plant, former Plessey Semiconductors) is next to the A386 Bickleigh Cross roundabout; nearby BD have a large plant making medical vacutainers (for blood samples) on Belliver Way Ind Est in the north of Plymouth; south of BD off the B3373 in Southway is Silicon Sensing Systems (who make vibrating structure gyroscopes and are owned by UTC Aerospace Systems, previously BAE Systems, and BAe Dynamics, who had made nose cones for aircraft including Concorde), and Schneider Electric UK (Drayton Controls, market-leading thermostatic radiator valves for central heating, previously owned by Invensys Controls UK).
Hemerdon Mine, east of Plymouth, has one of the largest deposits of tungsten in the world. Wills Marine make motor inflatable boats off the A379 in Kingsbridge.
Dorset
New Look is in Weymouth; it is Britain's second-biggest value clothing retailer, with over 800 stores in 21 countries. Wytch Farm (BP) is the UK's largest onshore oil field. Meggitt is a leading aerospace and defence contractor, based west of Bournemouth Airport, with Hobbycraft, at a former BAC works in Hurn, close to West Parley. The Royal Armoured Corps is based at Bovington Camp, and next door is the Bovington Tank Museum; the Army has three armoured regiments (Royal Dragoon Guards, Royal Tank Regiment and King's Royal Hussars) and 227 FV4034 70-tonne Challenger 2 tanks; Germany has around 1,000 tanks and Russia has 3,300. Westwind Air Bearings (owned by Novanta) is off the A352 at Wareham St Martin, west of Poole, near Holton Heath railway station, with Mathmos (lighting), founded by Edward Craven Walker who invented the lava lamp.
Tata Consultancy Services (former Unisys Insurance Services before 2010) is in Bournemouth. Imagine Publishing, a magazine publisher, with The Mortgage Works (owned by Nationwide Building Society), is at the A35/A347 Richmond Hill Roundabout; Organix is in the centre; McCarthy & Stone, who make much of Britain's retirement housing, is on the B3066. LV= (insurance) is at Frizzell House at Westbourne at the County Gates Gyratory A35/A338 roundabout. JPMorgan Chase have their large Chaseside site at the A3060/A338 junction opposite the Royal Bournemouth Hospital, RIAS (insurance) and Teachers Assurance, towards Holdenhurst.
thumb|left|The [[Lifeboat College in Poole, where the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is headquartered]]
Merlin Entertainments (who own Sea Life Centres, and are the world's second largest theme park operator after Disney) is in Poole with a former division, Aquarium Technology, at the end of the A350 near the Twin Sails bridge. Ryvita is made in Parkstone on the B3061. Fitness First, the largest privately owned health club group in the world, originated in Bournemouth and is now globally headquartered south of Fleet's Corner. Siemens Traffic Controls make most of the UK's traffic lights west near Fleet's Corner; the main traffic light in the UK is the Siemens Helios (the other make is the Peek Elite). North of Fleets Lane, south of the Wessex Gate Retail Park, is Parvalux, on the A3049 on the West Howe Ind Estate in Wallisdown, which makes geared DC electric motors and gearboxes; further south is Faerch Plast (former Sealed Air, which makes trays for food) then Fitness First, and Aeronautical & General Instruments; further north is Lush, the cosmetics company, with Hamworthy Wärtsilä (Finnish), and Hamworthy Combustion (owned by Koch Industries), at the A349/A3049 junction in Fleetsbridge, is an international engineering consultancy.
Sunseeker International is a main motor yacht manufacturer; it made the boat in the opening sequence of The World Is Not Enough. The Special Boat Service is based at RM Poole, home of the Navy's amphibious warfare section, off the B3068 at Hamworthy in the west of Poole. Tangerine Confectionery (former Parrs) made gums and jellies on the Redlands Trading Estate off the A3040 near Branksome railway station to the east. Aish Technologies makes console (display) systems for the Royal Navy off B3068 in Alderney.
thumb|right|Cobham underwing refuelling pod on an RAF Voyager, or [[Airbus A330 MRTT (the aircraft is made at CASA, part of Airbus Defence and Space, in Getafe in central Spain)]]
Cobham plc, in Wimborne Minster towards Leigh, is a world-leader in air-to-air refuelling, developed by Alan Cobham at RAF Tarrant Rushton, and aircraft antennas. Durable UK (office products) is in Wimborne; Caterpillar's Wimborne Marine Power Centre make Perkins Sabre marine diesel generators on Ferndown Ind Est off the A31; to the south is the paint manufacturer Farrow & Ball in Hampreston and Stapehill, in Ferndown. Manitou UK, owner of the American Gehl Company and from Nanterre in France, is based at Verwood on the Ebblake Ind Est off the B3081 near the Hampshire boundary. Sigma-Aldrich UK (pharmaceuticals) are off the B3092 on Brickfield Business Park in Gillingham, next to the River Stour and railway. Cygnus Instruments, on the B3144 in Dorchester, is the leading manufacturer of ultrasonic thickness gauges, developing the technique in the early 1980s. Edwards Sports Products of Bridport, owned by Broxap of Staffordshire, make football goals for the Premier League, and tennis nets and posts for Wimbledon.
Gloucestershire
thumb|right|240px|An aerial view of [[The Doughnut|GCHQ's headquarters, 2004; the biggest employer in Gloucestershire is the intelligence agency GCHQ, who are based at 'The Doughnut', their headquarters GCHQ has around 6,000 staff, MI5 has 4,000, and MI6 (Secret Intelligence Service) has 3,200; GCHQ is in the west of Cheltenham, off the A40 at the A4013 roundabout at Fiddlers Green, and also has a site to the east at Oakley ]]
In Cheltenham are Endsleigh Insurance in Shurdington, Kohler Mira Ltd (showers), Superdry (clothing), Collins Geo (maps), and Chelsea Building Society are on the A435 to the south-east. North of Cheltenham at Bishop's Cleeve, south of the village on the A435, is GE Aviation Systems UK on the large Cleeve Business Park; this which was the former 300-acre site of the Cheltenham Division of Smiths Industries that made flight control systems and flight deck displays; further up the A435 is a main site of Zurich Assurance UK. Weird Fish (clothing) is near Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc (pumps) off the A4019 in Kingsditch in Swindon Village, north of Cheltenham; on the other side of the A4019, Douglas Equipment, next to All Saints' Academy, Cheltenham, makes towing tractors for aircraft. Gulf Oil UK was headquartered on B4075 in Prestbury (near the racecourse) until 1997, when Shell UK bought its petrol stations; the former headquarters became a student hall of the University of Gloucestershire.
Computer security firm Symantec have a site in Gloucester, the base of Ecclesiastical Insurance. Dowty Rotol (who make propellers) and Bond Aviation Group (helicopter leasing) are next to Gloucestershire Airport at Staverton; Helimedia is the UK distributor of the L-3 Wescam, the Canadian thermal imaging system found with many UK police air support units and air ambulances. The Cheltenham & Gloucester bank was Barnwood (north Gloucester), next to Unilever's manufacturing site for Wall's ice cream at the A417/A38 roundabout next to the railway; on other side of the railway in Elmbridge is Lanes Health who make Olbas Oil and Kalms; to the south, EDF Energy (former British Energy) have their nuclear energy engineering centre with Horizon Nuclear Power. Between the former C&G and EDF at Barnwood, Barclays' data centre services all of its ATMs in the south of England.
thumb|left|upright=0.75|[[Safran Landing Systems|Safran Landing Systems UK (former Messier-Dowty, historically Britain's main aircraft undercarriage manufacturer, now owned by Safran) make undercarriage for Boeing aircraft; the South West region has the most aerospace industry in the UK (followed by the North West, which has Warton and Samlesbury)]]
Moog Controls UK, on the Ashchurch Ind Estate by Ashchurch for Tewkesbury near junction 9 (A46) of the M5, make servo valves for the aerospace industry (flight control systems or AFCS), in Northway; also on the estate is Steinhoff UK, who own Sleepmasters and Bensons for Beds. Floortex (floor coverings) is on Tewkesbury Business Park, west of the M5 south of Duraflex. Near the M5 Ashchurch Interchange off the A438, RR Donnelley GDS print Barclaycard statements. The Colt Car Company UK (who distribute Mitsubishi Motors) are in Cirencester, and Corin Group make artificial joints on the A429 near the Royal Agricultural University.
The Stroud & Swindon Building Society and Ecotricity are in Stroud near Stroud station. WSP Textiles (a former division of Milliken) on the A46 towards Rodborough in the south of Stroud make felt for billiard tables (Strachan cloth), and for tennis balls for three Grand Slam tournaments (Playne's tennis ball cloth). Dairy Crest makes Frijj milkshake at its large dairy at Severnside on the Stroudwater Business Park at Stonehouse next to the M5, within walking distance of Stonehouse station; nearby ReedHycalog (owned by National Oilwell Varco) make industrial drill bits off the A419 on the Oldends Ind Est, near ABB UK, who make flow meters; Delphi Diesel Systems UK, on the business park, make electronic unit injectors; Renishaw plc have large machining centre on north of the business park; SKF (Swedish) make ball bearings (Aeroengine & High Precision Bearings Division, for Rolls-Royce) to the south of the estate (former Ransome Hoffmann Pollard), then NSK until 2002); the company has another site at Clevedon in Somerset.
thumb|right|The entrance to [[UCAS in 2008; it has around 37,000 courses at 370 institutions; it is in the north of Cheltenham, near the racecourse in Prestbury at the A435/B4075 junction]]
Beverage Brands is based at Hucclecote on the Gloucester Business Park off B4641 east of the M5 Brockworth Interchange, with Horizon Nuclear Power, and next to NHS Gloucestershire); in the same building is MessageLabs (Symantec), and a main office of Ageas UK (insurance). Further south in Brockworth is Direct Wines (Laithwaites); to the east is a G-TEKT (former Takao Europe) automotive metal pressings and sub-assemblies factory and a large Invista textiles factory (former ICI Fibres, then Dupont from 1992, which makes nylon fibres);
the site is built on the former Gloster Aircraft factory, which closed around 1960. Renishaw plc is in Wotton-under-Edge, previously being in Nailsworth. Lister Petter, off the A4135 in Dursley, make diesel engine generator sets; Lister Shearing is the only British manufacturer of clipping and shearing (animals) equipment. The Fire Service College is in Moreton-in-Marsh near Moreton-in-Marsh station. Northcot Brick is at Blockley, in the north-east, next to the railway; Per Una is based near Draycott.
Mabey Group, off the A48 at Lydney make wind turbine towers; on the other side of the A48, Federal-Mogul have a foundry making camshafts. Suntory (Japanese) makes Lucozade (from 1957) and Ribena (from 1947) at the Royal Forest Factory off the B4228 in Coleford in the Forest of Dean; William Horlick, originator of another well-known former GSK product, was born in the Forest of Dean in 1846.
thumb|left|The [[Army Air Corps (United Kingdom)|Army Air Corps has 67 Yeovil-built, Rolls-Royce RTM322-powered AgustaWestland Apache AH1 helicopters; since 2010, the helicopters now have the much-more advanced Apache Arrowhead night-vision system which superseded TADS/PNVS; in October 2016, the Royal Navy had 94 helicopters; the Fleet Air Arm Museum is Europe's largest naval air museum]]
Somerset
thumb|[[Mendip Vale railway station|Mendip Vale the nearest station to the city of Wells which is cut off from the rest of the UK by the Beeching cuts.]]
Screwfix is in Yeovil, and Clarks shoes with K-Swiss Europe are in Street, although most of its shoes are made in the Far East. Shepton Mallet is home of Blackthorn Cider and the Gaymer Cider Company. Dairy Crest packs Cathedral City cheese in Frome. The Glastonbury Festival at Pilton (nearer to Shepton Mallet than Glastonbury), off the A361, is the UK's biggest music festival.
thumb|left|Greencore make premium chilled desserts, such as [[tiramisu for M & S, at their site (former St Ivel, then Uniq Desserts) off the B3081 at Evercreech ]]
The Royal Marines have a large base for 40 Commando west of Taunton, with their training centre at Lympstone Commando in Devon, on the Avocet Line with its own station of Lympstone and the A376 and River Exe. Attentional in Taunton deliver audience figures for BARB. DS Smith's Wansbrough Paper Mill at Watchet on the coast is the UK's largest manufacturer of coreboard. Fletcher Boats make speedboats in Langport. TePe UK (Swedish) supply toothbrushes.
Thales Defence closed its radar site (former EMI Electronics) near Wookey Hole, in St Cuthbert Out. Thales Underwater Systems (former Plessey Marine) is at Abbas and Templecombe, Somerset, off the A357 towards Dorset in the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. Commando Helicopter Force at Yeovilton operates Merlins and Wildcats (the upgraded version of the Lynx). Mulberry is based at Chilcompton on the B3139, north of Shepton Mallet, in the Mendips. Cox & Cox furnishings, is north of Frome in Berkley, Somerset off the A361. Fox Brothers make cloth in Wellington, and Relyon (part of Steinhoff International) make beds.
Italian defence contractor Leonardo makes helicopters at Yeovil, formerly the home of Westland Helicopters, building the AgustaWestland AW159 Wildcat. To the east of Yeovil, in Houndstone, Garador make garage doors (part of Hörmann Group of Amshausen, Europe's largest mechanical door manufacturer). Yeo Valley Organic is in Blagdon. Numatic International Limited makes vacuum cleaners in Chard, and Brecknell Willis, a railway engineering company on the A30, makes pantographs; ActionAid UK is in the Chard Business Centre, off the A358 in the north of Chard, near a centrifugal oil filter plant of Mann+Hummel. Dairy Crest made brandy butter south of the town in Tatworth and Forton, near the meeting point of Dorset, Somerset and Devon. Ministry of Cake, owned by Greencore since December 2007 on the A3065 in Staplegrove in the west of Taunton, is the leading provider of frozen desserts to the UK foodservice industry. The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office is in Taunton. Pilgrims Choice cheddar is made by Adams Foods (former North Downs Dairy) at Wincanton. Ariel Motor Company in Crewkerne, make the Ariel Atom.
Refresco Gerber in the north of Bridgwater, between the A38 and the River Parrett, make SunnyD, Libby's, Innocent Drinks, Del Monte, Just Juice and Ocean Spray.
thumb|right|Former brandy butter plant at [[Chard Junction next to the River Axe ]]
Next to the Royal Portbury Dock, off junction 19 of the M5 on the A369 is Lafarge Plasterboard. Thatchers Cider is in Sandford, North Somerset on the A368, two miles east of the M5. Towards Bristol Airport, Claverham make actuation equipment for the aerospace sector in Yatton in North Somerset, off the A370, and is part of Hamilton Sundstrand, derived from the electrical systems part of Fairey Aviation.
Wessex Water, Future plc, Buro Happold and Rotork are in Bath. Cadbury used to make Curly Wurly, Double Decker and Crunchie at the Somerdale Factory, Keynsham until Kraft closed the plant in March 2011 and moved production to Skarbimierz, Opole Voivodeship in Poland.
Wiltshire
right|thumb|[[Salisbury Cathedral at 123 m (404 ft) which is the tallest in the UK]]
Nationwide Building Society, Research Councils UK and five research councils, Intel Europe, and the British Computer Society are in Swindon, as are the main offices of Historic England and the National Trust, both housed in the former Great Western Railway's Swindon Works. Allied Dunbar was headquartered in the centre of Swindon until 1998, when bought by Zurich Financial Services. In Stratton St Margaret, BMW press metal for the Mini at the former Pressed Steel Company, there is a major Honda manufacturing plant (in South Marston) where the Jazz, Civic and CR-V are manufactured at Britain's second-largest car manufacturing plant; nearby are Zimmer UK (medical devices) and Yuasa UK (automotive batteries).
The headquarters of WHSmith, with Smiths News, is near the School Library Association, west of the MINI works in Upper Stratton. Valero Energy UK, who bought Texaco from Chevron in 2011, are in Eldene, in the former head office of St Ivel; Patheon UK (pharmaceuticals, on the former site of Roussel Uclaf) are on the B4006 in Covingham, north of Valero, in the east of Swindon. BG Automotive, on the Cheney Manor industrial estate, make gaskets on the B4006 in Rodbourne; Dynamatic UK are in a former Plessey factory. Burmah Oil was headquartered in the south of Swindon; Burmah bought Castrol in 1966 (owned by BP from 2000). Stanley Security (former Amano Blick) is on the Techno trading estate, north of the town centre.
thumb|left|Former Plessey Semiconductors factory in Swindon, on the Cheney Manor Industrial Estate, west of Rodbourne
Near the M4 Spittleborough Roundabout, close to Freshbrook, are Synergy Health and RWE npower; also on the Windmill Hill Business park are Arval (vehicle leasing and fuel cards), and Allstar (fuel card); also nearby are Cartus Europe, Catalent Pharma Solutions UK and MAN Truck & Bus UK (with Neoplan and ERF); further east is WRc (the former Water Research Centre). Nearby on Lydiard Fields in Lydiard Tregoze is Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells, which in 2002 was the world's first production site of membrane electrode assemblies, and next door is Neptune, who make furniture and kitchens; also BuildStore have their National Self Build & Renovation Centre. Sauer-Danfoss UK provide hydraulics off the A419 in Dorcan, and nearby is TE Connectivity UK (former Tyco Electronics and Raychem). The British & Foreign Bible Society is on the Delta Business Park in Westlea, near Intergraph UK (geospatial software, owned by Hexagon AB) on the other side of Westmead industrial estate, with Metric Group, the only UK manufacturer of parking meters. Triumph International UK is in Blunsdon St Andrew.
Dyson is in Malmesbury, north of the M4. Cotswold Outdoor (recommended supplier to the DofE Award and the Scout Association) is based at the Cotswold Airport near the Gloucestershire boundary, south of Cirencester.
thumb|left|upright=0.75|[[Shredded wheat|Shredded Wheat factory at Staverton north of Trowbridge]]
Trowbridge has Apetito UK, Wiltshire Farm Foods, Danone UK and their subsidiary Numico. Cereal Partners make Shredded Wheat and Shreddies at Staverton, near Trowbridge. In Devizes is the Wadworth Brewery. Salisbury Cathedral in Salisbury attracts many tourists. Rockhopper Exploration is in the town and Naim Audio make hi-fi equipment. Nearby, Dstl is at Porton Down. Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems UK (formerly Westinghouse) make railway air brakes in Bowerhill just south of Melksham and nearby are the headquarters of Avon Rubber and Herman Miller UK, a maker of office furniture. Chippenham has the HQ of Wincanton plc, the large logistics company, Invensys Rail Group (formerly Westinghouse Rail Systems) who make rail signalling equipment, and the software company SCISYS.
In the centre of the county are many military establishments, notably MoD Boscombe Down, the training sites on Salisbury Plain and at MoD Lyneham, and the army bases around Tidworth, Larkhill (home of the Royal School of Artillery) and Warminster (HQ of the Infantry).
Subdivisions
The region covers much of the historical area of Wessex (omitting only Hampshire and Berkshire), and all of the Celtic Kingdom of Dumnonia which comprised Cornwall, Devon, and parts of Somerset and Dorset. In terms of local government, it was divided after 1974 into Avon, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, and Wiltshire. Avon has since been abolished, and several mainly urban areas have become unitary authorities.
Local government
The official region consists of the following geographic counties and local government areas:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Map ||Ceremonial county||Non-metropolitan county || Non-metropolitan districts
|-
| rowspan="15" |300x300px|| rowspan="3" |Somerset || colspan="2" | 1. Bath and North East Somerset UA
|-
| colspan="2" | 2. North Somerset UA
|-
| colspan="3" | 10. Somerset UA
|-
| Bristol || colspan="2" | 3. Bristol UA
|-
|rowspan="2" | Gloucestershire || colspan="2" | 4. South Gloucestershire UA
|-
| 5. Gloucestershire CC || a) Gloucester, b) Tewkesbury, c) Cheltenham, d) Cotswold, e) Stroud, f) Forest of Dean
|-
|rowspan="2" | Wiltshire || colspan="2" | 6. Swindon UA
|-
| colspan="2" | 7. Wiltshire UA
|-
| rowspan="2" | Dorset|| colspan="2" | 8. Dorset UA
|-
| colspan="2" | 9. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole UA
|-
| rowspan="3" |Devon|| 11. Devon CC||a) Exeter, b) East Devon, c) Mid Devon, d) North Devon, e) Torridge, f) West Devon, g) South Hams, h) Teignbridge
|-
| colspan="2" | 12. Torbay UA
|-
| colspan="2" | 14. Plymouth UA
|-
|rowspan="2" | Cornwall || colspan="2" | 15. Isles of Scilly sui generis UA
|-
| colspan="2" | 13. Cornwall UA
|}
- UA = unitary authority area (non-metropolitan county and district)
- CC = county council
Eurostat NUTS
In the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), South West England is a level-1 NUTS region, coded "UKK", which is subdivided as follows:
{| class="wikitable"
|- style="background:gold; text-align:left;"
! NUTS 1
! Code
! NUTS 2
! Code
! NUTS 3
! Code
|-
| South West England
| UKK
| rowspan=5 | Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bristol/Bath area
| rowspan=5 | UKK1
| Bristol
| UKK11
|-
| rowspan="11" colspan="2" style="text-align:center;"| 240px
| Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire
| UKK12
|-
| Gloucestershire CC
| UKK13
|-
| Swindon
| UKK14
|-
| Wiltshire
| UKK15
|-
| rowspan=3 | Dorset and Somerset
| rowspan=3 | UKK2
| Bournemouth and Poole
| UKK21
|-
| Dorset CC
| UKK22
|-
| Somerset
| UKK23
|-
| Cornwall and Isles of Scilly
| UKK3
| Cornwall and Isles of Scilly
| UKK30
|-
| rowspan=3 | Devon
| rowspan=3 | UKK4
| Plymouth
| UKK41
|-
| Torbay
| UKK42
|-
| Devon CC
| UKK43
|}
South West Regional Assembly
thumb|[[Durdle Door in Dorset is part of the Jurassic Coast, England's only natural World Heritage Site.]]
Although referendums had been planned on whether elected assemblies should be set up in some of the regions, none was planned in the South West. The South West Regional Assembly (SWRA) was the regional assembly for the South West region, established in 1999. It was based in Exeter and Taunton. The SWRA was a partnership of councillors from all local authorities in the region and representatives of various sectors with a role in the region's economic, social and environmental well-being. There was much opposition to the formation of the SWRA with critics saying it was an unelected unrepresentative and unaccountable "quango". The Regional Assembly was wound up in May 2009, and its functions taken on by the Strategic Leaders' Board (SLB) of South West Councils.
Politics
As of the 2024 United Kingdom general election, The South West contains 58 seats in the House of Commons. Labour hold 24 seats, The Liberal Democrats hold 22 seats, The Conservatives hold 11 seats and The Greens hold 1 seat.
Education
Schools
Secondary education
The South West has a below average rate of attainment in GCSE (and equivalent) examinations, with the lowest regional performance in England from 2009 to 2012. In 2012, South Hams had the highest percentage of pupils achieving 5 or more GCSEs at grade A*-C at 86%, whilst Purbeck had the lowest at 70%.
The region has an above average rate of attainment in A-Level (and equivalent) examinations, having outperformed the West Midlands, East Midlands, North East and London in 2012.
Higher education
thumb|right|University of Bath
There are twelve universities in the region:
- Arts University Bournemouth
- Bournemouth University
- Bath Spa University
- University of Bath
- University of Bristol
- Camborne School of Mines. Part of the University of Exeter.
- University of Exeter
- Falmouth University
- University of Gloucestershire
- The University of Law
- University of Plymouth
- Plymouth Marjon University
- Royal Agricultural University
- University of the West of England (UWE)
There are also four higher education colleges. The region has the lowest number of people registered on higher education courses at FE colleges.
The University of Bristol receives the most total funding, according to Higher Education Funding Council for England figures for the 2006/2007 academic year, and the largest research grant—twice as big as any other in the region. Bath has the next largest research grant, closely followed by Exeter. UWE and Plymouth get small research grants, but no other universities in the region receive much of a research grant. The University of Plymouth has the largest teaching grant.
Of the region's students (postgraduate and undergraduate), 50% are from the region, and around 40% from other regions. For full-time first degree students, 35% come from the region, around 22% are from South East England, and 8% are from London. Including the East of England, around 70% are from Southern England. 10% are from the Midlands, and 5% from Northern England. The main access for students from the north is the Cross Country Route. Around 33% of native South West students stay in the region, with 18% going to the South East (around 60% stay in the south of England). Around 14% go to Wales, but very few go to the East of England. Access by road or rail to the East of England region is not straightforward, with around the same amount of travel as to Scotland. Many more native South West students are prepared to go to the north of England, than northern students are prepared to study in the South West. Once graduated, around 50% stay in the region, with 15% each going to London or the South East (around 80% find work in the south of England). Very few go elsewhere (especially the north of England); around 4% go to the West Midlands or Wales.
Local media
thumb|right|[[BBC Radio Wiltshire's building in Swindon]]
Television
- BBC South West, based in Plymouth with the Spotlight regional programme.
- BBC West, based in Clifton in Bristol with the Points West regional programme.
- ITV West Country, based in Bristol (following the merger of ITV West and ITV Westcountry), with the ITV News West Country regional programme.
Parts of Wiltshire and Dorset, including the Salisbury, Bournemouth, Poole, Dorchester and Weymouth areas, receive BBC South and ITV Meridian from Southampton.
Radio
BBC Local Radio services in the region include Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Bristol, Wiltshire, and Gloucestershire, along with BBC Radio Solent's partial opt-out service for Dorset.
Commercial radio stations include:
- Heart West, owned by Global, broadcasts a regional weekday programme for the South West, as well as localised news on frequencies previously occupied by Heart West Country (Bristol/Bath), Heart Devon, Heart Gloucestershire, Heart Wiltshire, and Atlantic FM (Cornwall).
- Greatest Hits Radio South West, owned by Bauer, occupies a number of frequencies previously broadcast as part of The Breeze network. As on Heart, one regional weekday afternoon programme for the wider region is retained alongside local news and advertising. A version of GHR for Cornwall is provided on DAB and online. The former Spire FM (Salisbury), and Wessex FM (Dorchester) broadcast as part of Greatest Hits Radio South in a similar manner.
- Bauer Radio also operates, as of September 2021:
- Hits Radio services for Bristol (formerly Sam FM) and Bournemouth (previously Fire Radio); each has a local afternoon drivetime programme, taking Hits Radio Network content at other times including breakfast.
- Kiss (national service, formerly Kiss 101 for the Severn Estuary region).
- Pirate FM (Cornwall), which has retained much of its local identity and programming.
- Radio Exe (formerly Exeter FM) is an independent locally-run commercial station for Exeter. The station expanded to serve Plymouth via the DAB digital radio platform in March 2022.
- Licensed community radio services in the region include BCfm (Bristol), Soundart Radio (Totnes), FromeFM (Somerset), Gloucester FM, Phonic FM (Exeter), Somer Valley FM (north Somerset), Radio St Austell Bay (Cornwall), Ujima Radio (Bristol), The Voice (North Devon), East Devon Radio (formerly ExmouthAiR and Bay FM), and Cross Rhythms Plymouth.
National radio is transmitted from North Hessary Tor (west Devon) and Wenvoe (west of Cardiff).
Newspapers
Regional newspapers include the Bath Chronicle, Bristol Post, Western Daily Press, the Dorset Echo, the Exeter Express and Echo, Western Morning News, the North Devon Journal, Cornish Guardian, The West Briton (Truro), The Cornishman, Wiltshire Times (Trowbridge), Gazette and Herald (North & West Wiltshire), Gloucestershire Echo, Gloucester Citizen, Plymouth Herald, Torquay Herald Express, Swindon Advertiser and the Salisbury Journal.
Sport
Rugby
In rugby union, the region has four Premiership Rugby teams: Bath Rugby, Bristol Bears, Exeter Chiefs and Gloucester Rugby.
In rugby league, the region has one club, Cornwall RLFC, playing in RFL League 1.
Football
As of the 2025–26 season, Bournemouth competes in Premier League, Bristol City competes in EFL Championship, Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City compete in EFL League One, Swindon Town, Bristol Rovers and Cheltenham Town compete in EFL League Two, Forest Green Rovers and Truro City compete in National League and Torquay United competes in National League South.
Other teams play in the South divisions of the Southern League, at levels 7 and 8 of the league system. At levels 9 and 10, the Western League covers the whole region except the most eastern parts, while the Hellenic League extends into Gloucestershire and north Wiltshire, and the Wessex League has teams from east Dorset and south Wiltshire. Also at level 10, the South West Peninsula League has teams from Cornwall and Devon.
References
Further reading
External links
- Visit South West England – Official Regional Tourist Board
- Government Office for the South West