THE North-East has finished bottom in a survey of how the regions compare in categories such as life expectancy and employment rate.

Business leaders in the region have called for greater co-operation between different organisations to resolve the problems highlighted in the Index of Success, prepared by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in Scotland.

In the past, the index only compared the member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

However, this year's report has also compared Scotland with other regions of the UK.

It grades the regions on four indicators - gross domestic product, life expectancy, educational attainment and employment rate - and gives them an overall score.

The top-ranking region in England outscores the North-East by more than ten times.

The North-East is the second-worst on three of the indicators and joint last for educational attainment.

It has been given an overall score, out of four, of 0.33, some way behind Wales, next on the list with 1.09.

The North-East's score is less than a tenth that of the South-East, the best performing region, which received a score of 3.40.

North-East residents have an average life expectancy of 77 years, while those in the South-West, which topped the category, live two years longer.

In education, too, the region struggled, with 45 per cent of pupils achieving five or more GCSEs at grades A to C, while in the South-East, the figure was 56 per cent. Scotland and Northern Ireland, however, exceeded even that, coming in at 60 per cent and 58 per cent respectively.

The South-East was again top in employment rates, with 79 per cent of people in work compared to 69 per cent in the North-East.

John Wright, the FSB North-East policy chairman, said: "It makes pretty grim reading.

"Over the past 20 years or so, we've started from a lower base - we were hit economically when we lost our heavy industry.

"But we can't carry on making excuses for that - that's no good - we've got to look at how we move forward."

Mr Wright said he hoped agencies like the Government and Office for the North-East and One NorthEast would consult with organisations like the FSB when trying to tackle the problem.

He added: "We haven't got to be pessimistic, we've got a job to do and it's a big challenge.

"But we are improving. Our school report would be 'good, but could do better'.

"We've got to try and encourage businesses to expand. Big organisations aren't going to come here, so we've got to try and grow them ourselves."

The study has been written by economist John McLaren.

He said: "There appears to be an inverse relationship in England between performance and distance from the capital's economy, with the worst three performers being in the most northerly regions.

"However, this relationship breaks down at the borders, with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all performing mid-table.

"This may be as a result of historical benefits from having greater political influence on funding than the constituent areas of England."