Gross value added by industry sector
Gross value added (GVA) by industry sector measures the increase in the value generated from the production of goods and services across the industrial sectors, based on the location of the workplace. GVA can be calculated by estimating the value of goods and services produced minus the value of the inputs used to create them (production) or the profits from business, household income and the government tax intake from the production of goods and services (income). The annual balanced GVA figures combine information from both measures to provide the best estimate of GVA.
The GVA figures are at current market prices, meaning that they are not adjusted for inflation. The real terms change in GVA figures reflect the annual change in GVA, adjusted to remove the effects of inflation. Some caution should be used when interpreting figures for smaller geographies. Further information is provided at the bottom of this page.
Total annual balanced GVA figures for Lancashire are provided in the gross value added article. An associated economic measure, gross domestic product (GDP), combines the estimate of GVA with taxes (including value added tax) and subsidies on the produced goods and services.
The latest annual balanced GVA figures by industry sector are for 2024 and are provisional.
Key figures
Manufacturing, real estate, wholesale retail and trade, and health and social work accounted for a little over half of total GVA in Lancashire-12 (54.9%) and Lancashire-14 (55.5%).
Manufacturing is a key sector contributing to GVA locally, accounting for the largest percentage of total GVA in Lancashire-12 (18.6%) and Lancashire-14 (17.7%). This is considerably higher than England (8.6%) and reflects the substantial aerospace industry in Lancashire.
Financial and insurance services, information and communication services, and professional, scientific and technical services account for a smaller proportion of total GVA in both Lancashire-12 (10.6%) and Lancashire-14 (10.1%) than in England overall (24.0%).
Source: Annual balanced estimates of gross value added (GVA(B)) for local authority districts (LAD) and international territorial levels (ITL) from the Office for National Statistics.
Annual changes in GVA
Compared to 2023, manufacturing GVA grew by 0.4% in real terms in Lancashire-12, while England saw a 0.9% growth in manufacturing GVA. This was smaller than the 11.4% growth seen between 2022 to 2023 and below the average annual growth of 2.1% in Lancashire-12.
Real estate GVA saw a 2.0% real terms decrease in Lancashire-12 compared to the previous year. This was below the growth seen in this sector in England (0.6%) and below the average annual growth seen in Lancashire-12 (1.8%).
Wholesale retail and trade saw a 1.8% real terms decrease in GVA compared to the previous year. This was below the 0.3% increase seen in England and below the Lancashire-12 average annual growth of 1.1%.
The largest annual real terms increases in GVA in Lancashire-12 were seen in the household acitivities sector (47.6%), though this sector continues to account for the smallest proportion of the total GVA in Lancashire-12 (0.2%), with this estimated changes in this sector often volatile. Real terms increases were also seen in the public administration and defence (8.8%), transportation and storage (7.5%), and agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining and quarrying (7.5%) sectors. The largest decreases were seen in the utilities (3.0%) and real estate (2.0%) sectors.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) publishes annual balanced estimates of GVA by industry sector for subnational areas of the United Kingdom, including estimates for the Lancashire-14 International Territorial Level (ITL) 2 sub-region, the six smaller Lancashire ITL3 areas and the 14 Lancashire local authority areas. Further information on Lancashire's geographies can be found on the geography article.
The GVA figures are workplace-based, meaning that they are allocated to the region in which the economic activity takes place. The UK GVA figures include extra-regio (activity that cannot be assigned to a specific country or region).
The balanced estimates of GVA combine two approaches to measuring GVA. Income GVA estimates are calculated by adding up the income generated by individuals or corporations in the production of goods and services whilst the production approach estimates GVA by calculating the total output of goods and services less the value of goods and services used up in the production process. A balanced approach evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of these two opposing approaches and gives them an appropriate weighting in informing a single best estimate of GVA.
The real terms change in GVA figures, or chained volume measures (CVM) of GVA, are calculated using chain-linking methods to remove the impact of inflation.
Industry sectors
The GVA by industry sector figures use the UK Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) 2007 to categorise industrial activities. The UK SIC 2007 includes A to U sections, capturing broad industrial sectors. The sections can be further broken down into two-digit divisions, three-digit groups, four-digit classes and five-digit subclasses. However, a full breakdown of activity is not published due to data limitations. Full details on the UK SIC 2007 can be found on the ONS page.
Limitations
At the local authority district level and smaller ITL3 areas, in addition to smaller industry sectors and subsectors, some GVA figures can be volatile owing to the small nature of the areas. Where erratic movements are evident in the time series you should use caution when interpreting the data.
Page updated 25 September 2026