So, GDP (Gross domestic product) is not a great measurement of the ‘wealth’ or ‘prosperity’ of a place. It is quite a blunt instrument and was developed under dramatically different economic circumstances to now.

I recently discovered an alternative named the ‘Thriving Places Index’ (TPI). They have a great site that allows you to see the region in which you live and how it ranks on the TPI scale. Broadly speaking it ranks counties on 3 areas: equality, local conditions and sustainability.

https://www.thrivingplacesindex.org/results/england

Unfortunately, there is only data on English and Welsh counties at the moment, also it’s definitely not a perfect system by any means, but it represents a step up from GDP, whilst still giving a simplistic enough picture to be understood by the general public.

My county (Birmingham) ranks as follows:

So how does your English / Welsh county rank on the TPI? Does it surprise you? Leave a comment!