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Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004

14/06/2004

The Executive released today its new Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD). This Index ranks small areas across the whole of Scotland by their levels of relative deprivation. It therefore enables anyone interested in comparing and contrasting small areas across Scotland to do so on a consistent basis.

The new Index is an update of the 2003 Index published in March 2003 and is part of the Executive's commitment to fulfilling the recommendations set out in the long term strategy for measuring deprivation report published in August 2003.

A report providing summary details on the approach taken by the Executive to construct the SIMD 2004 can be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/SIMD2004Report
and the full details on the rankings and underlying data behind the SIMD 2004 at www.scotland.gov.uk/SIMD2004Data. An interactive web-site that shows where deprivation occurs across each of the 32 Local Authorities in Scotland can be found at www.scotland.gov.uk/SIMD2004Mapping.

Main Points

  • Almost 40 percent of the people living in the most deprived 15 percent of areas across Scotland, live in Glasgow City.
  • Just over 50 percent of Glasgow's population live in areas defined as being in the most deprived 15 percent of areas across the country.
  • The most deprived area of Scotland is identified as being in Glasgow City and is on the boundary of the Queenslie and Barlanark wards.
  • The least deprived area is in East Renfrewshire and can be found in the Giffnock North ward
  • None of the areas identified as being in the most deprived 15 percent of areas across Scotland are found in East Lothian, Eilean Siar, Moray, Orkney Islands or Shetland Islands.
  • Small areas across the whole of Scotland are ranked by their relative multiple deprivation. A rank of 1 indicates the most deprived area and a rank of 6,505 indicates the least deprived area.
  • The SIMD 2004 is based on new small area geography called Data Zones. These typically contain 750 people and are a substantial step forward in enabling the identification of small pockets of deprivation.
  • The SIMD can be accessed through an interactive web-site. In addition to providing information on the overall index, the site enables users to look in more detail at specific deprivation in the fields of 'Current Income', 'Employment', 'Education, Skills and Training', 'Health', 'Housing' and 'Geographic Access and Telecommunications'.

The SIMD 2004 is based on the methodology developed by the Social Disadvantage Research Centre (SDRC) in the Department of Social Policy and Social Work at University of Oxford. SDRC produced the 2003 Interim Index of Deprivation which was published in March 2003.

The Scottish Centre for Research on Social Justice was employed by the
Executive to develop a long-term strategy for measuring deprivation in Scotland. This report was developed by reviewing relevant literature, interviewing representatives of the public, voluntary and academic sectors, holding three focus groups with representatives of community organisations and also by considering written submissions from the general public and community groups. The reports can be found at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/social/mdis-00.asp

Page updated: Saturday, July 17, 2004