 Similarly, gross value added (GVA) per head is relatively low in Swansea at £14,302.However, lower earnings and GVA per head do not necessarily signify a major gap in living standards because of differences in the cost of living and transfer payments.Although some surveys place Swansea as the 18th-largest retail centre in the UK – a high placement considering the size of its population – in rankings of shopping attractiveness and competitiveness, Swansea is usually placed outside the top 50, largely because of the low quality of the city centre retail offer.