|  | Monday, 6 December, 1999, 13:21 GMT
North-south report: Key points
 The number of children gaining top grades at GCSE varies by region
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A summary of the findings of the government's Sharing the Nation's Prosperity report in to the variation of economic and social conditions across the UK.
Variations between the regions:
Disposable income per head in England in 1997 ranged from �11,084 in London to �8,080 in the north east.
International Labour Organization (ILO) unemployment rates in February to April this year varied from 3.7% in the south east to 10.1% in the north east.
 Disposable income is �11,084 per head in London
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The percentage of children in England achieving five or more GCSEs at grade A*- C in 1998/9 varied from 39.4% in the north east to 51.2% in the south east.
The percentage of children under five in education in the UK in 1997/8 ranged from 47% in the south east to 86% in the north east.
Standardised mortality ratios in the UK in 1997 ranged from 115 in Scotland to 90 in the south west (UK =100). West Dunbartonshire had the highest mortality ratio in 1997 at 139 compared to the City of London which had the lowest ratio at 65.
The percentage of households in receipt of benefit in Great Britain in 1997/8 ranged from 63% in the south east to 77% in the north east.
The percentage of households living in poor housing in England in 1996 varied from 11% in the south west to 19% in London.
The rates of notifiable offences recorded by the police per 100,000 population in the UK in 1997 ranged from 3,715 in Northern Ireland to 10,857 in Yorkshire and the Humber.
The average house price in London in 1998 was about �130,000, more than double the price of houses in the north east, which had the lowest average house price.
Around one in five households in the north east own a home computer compared with just over one in three in the east of England.
Households in the south east are more than twice as likely to own a dishwasher as those living in the north east, which has the lowest proportion of households with dishwashers.
Variations within the regions:
In the north west, gross domestic product (GDP) per head in 1995 ranged from 119 in Halton and Warrington to 61 in Sefton (where the UK average is 100).
 Barnsley's GDP measures 65, compared to an UK average of 100
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A similar comparison in Yorkshire and Humber shows a range of 127 for York to 65 for Barnsley and Doncaster and Rotherham.
Even in the south east, the range of per-capita GDP in 1996 was from 138 in Berkshire to 74 in East Sussex.
The ILO unemployment rate in 1997/98 in the north east ranged from 14.3% in Hartlepool to 6.5% in County Durham.
In the south east the ILO unemployment rate ranged from 8.7% in Portsmouth to 3.2% in Buckinghamshire.
The standardised mortality rate (UK=100) in the north west in 1997 ranged from 84 in South Lakeland to 128 in Halton.
In the eastern region the mortality ratio varied from 74 in Three Rivers to 112 in Watford.
In Yorkshire and the Humber the percentage of children getting five GCSEs A*-C in 1997/8 ranged from 21.4 in Hull to 54 in North Yorkshire.
A similar comparison for the south west shows a range of 32.1% in Bristol to 51.6% in Gloucestershire.
Five of 10 most deprived authority areas in England on the Department of the Environment's deprivation index are in London.
A total of 22 of the 100 most deprived districts in England are in London.
The south east contains 14 of the most deprived districts in England.
Mersyside has one of the most serious concentrations of unemployment and social exclusion in Europe, but neighbouring Cheshire has the fifth highest GDP per capita in England.
Less than three-quarters of people of working age in Wales are economically active compared with four-fifths in the UK as a whole.
The infant mortality rate for the UK in 1996-98 was 5.9 deaths per 1,000 live births. The area with the highest rate was West Dunbartonshire with 9.7 per 1,00 live births and the lowest was the Orkney Islands with 1.6 per live births.
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