"Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" (But not that one!)

Friday 30th December 2022

A few thousand miles to the north of its more well known namesake lies a tiny Welsh village that shares its famous name.

There are in fact more than 20 Bethlehems in the world, including several in the USA and one in Pembrokeshire. For many years, visitors would make a trip to the small Welsh village before Christmas, often simply to post their Christmas cards with a most appropriate post mark. Now the post office is gone, together with the small local school and the pub.

Instead, the village of about 150 residents relies on the nearby market town of Llandeilo for most of its essential services, from shopping to schools and of course jobs.

The village of Bethlehem mirrors the changes in many areas of the UK over the years. Changes to employment patterns, with the continued shift from industrial, manufacturing and farming jobs to often office based, retail and leisure occupations creates major demographic shifts to households and communities. Keeping track of these changes and providing an up to date summary of what local areas look like is what More Metrics does best.

Our small area estimates provides data for each postcode, from income, employment and household finances, to social attitudes, health estimates and life expectancy. Lifestyle data including estimates for smoking and obesity provide additional insight about the area. And of course our estimates are based entirely on open source data with no personal information included.

So, taking a closer look at More Metrics data for Bethlehem, Wales, shows that a typical 30 year man:

• earns about 85% of full-time national average at £32,600
• but other sources on average increase his gross income by 25%
• and there is a 5 in 6 probability that he spends between £30,000 and £50,000 each year
• whilst on average having an mortgage outstanding of about £90,000

In terms of attitudes our 30 year old Bethlehem resident is:

• extremely concerned about the environment, though only slightly more than average about animal issues
• supports ethnic issues, but is less concerned about sexual diversity
• has left libertarian sentiments and a European focus
• is more likely to support child than animal charities

Health-wise he has:

• a mortality rate that is 82% of expected, healthier than average
• leading to a life expectancy of almost 81.5 years and a biological age of 27.6 years (he looks good for his age!)
• with a 16% likelihood to be a smoker and 24% chance of being obese

Put all this data and we begin to get a clearer picture of what people look like in this small area. More Metrics data is typically split by age and 5 year age bands to provide a level of insight to allow organisations and public bodies to make informed decisions as to how to interact with individuals and households at a local level.

Contact us to see how our data might help your organisation understand your existing and future customers better.

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