A combination of the high cost of living and that people in Cornwall are scraping by on less than £14,300, means it is now one the poorest places in Europe, according to new figures.
Cornwall, alongside the Welsh Valleys is now poorer than Poland, Lithuania and Hungary, official EU figures have revealed, with families 36 per cent less well-off than the EU norm.
This means that Cornwall is poorer than any part of Ireland, Finland, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Germany and Austria.
The figures place Cornwall in the top 50 poorest regions of the whole of Europe and in the top 10 deprived areas of Western Europe.
The figures show that for the UK as a whole people's incomes are well below the EU average, however it also has the EU’s richest region, with inner London boasting an average GDP per person of £71,000 a year, over 300 per cent of the EU average.
Eurostat has measured “purchasing power standards” across the EU which measures GDP per person taking into account the differences in national price levels to show how much the cash in people’s wallets is really worth.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here