LATEST statistics show how populations and economic indicators vary across Cornwall.

The research, released by the Office for National Statistics, covers topics including population change in Cornish towns, the proportion of people living in deprived areas, and the claimant count by Cornish town.

The data, compiled by ONS South West Regional Statisticians, showed that Launceston and Callington had the highest and second highest proportional growth in population of all medium sized South West towns, that is those with a population of between 5,000 and 20,000.

For Launceston, the figures showed a mid 2007 estimated population of 8,600 — with a five year change from 2002 to 2007 of 1,200 (16.9 per cent). In Callington, the 2007 estimated population was 5,600, with a five year change of 800 (16.4 per cent).

The increase for Bude/Stratton was lower. The mid 2007 estimated population was 6,900 with a five year change of 500 (7.1 per cent).

Five of the twenty main towns include areas that are among the 10 per cent most deprived in England.

Callington has more than a third of employees within one of the South West RDA priority sectors. Launceston has less than one in ten of its workforce within one of the priority sectors.

The data has been collected to show how available data for small areas can be used to build up information about the region.

Eddie Smith, South West Regional Analyst for ONS, said: "We have been able to combine data for small areas to paint a picture of elements of life in Cornish towns including population, types of businesses and levels of deprivation. It really is a snapshot taken across Cornwall. One of the interesting things the statistics highlight is the change in population over time. There are several towns in Cornwall in which there have been large increases in the size of the population in recent years but there are others with little change. Also, many towns in Cornwall have a population older than the English average.

"Across England, the proportion of the population aged 45 or over is 41 per cent, but in some towns in Cornwall, more than half of population is this age. The snapshot also shows levels of deprivation. Penzance, for instance, has the highest proportion of its population living in deprived areas. We produced the data partly to showcase Neighbourhood Statistics — http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk">www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk — which allows people to look at very localised data for their home town.They can get a picture of what's going on in their area, and see how things are changing over time."