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Scottish Indices of Deprivation 2003
Chapter 4: Presenting the Results
Results have been released at ward level for each of the Domain Indices and the overall SIMD as well as local authority level summaries of the ward level SIMD.
Ward level presentations
At the ward level there are six Indices for each ward in Scotland: five Domain Indices (which are combined to make the overall SIMD) and an overall SIMD. The Deprivation Indices are each assigned a rank. There are 1222 wards in Scotland. The most deprived ward for each Index is given a rank of 1, and the least deprived ward is given a rank of 1222. The ranks show how a ward compares to all the other wards in Scotland and are easily interpretable.
Maps have been produced to show the spatial distribution of the Domain Indices and the overall SIMD at ward level. The wards have been deciled (divided into ten equal groups) according to the deprivation scores in each domain or on the SIMD. Each decile contains 122 or 123 wards.
The five Domain Indices and their Ranks
Each Domain Index consists of the combined indicators in that domain. These are then ranked. These Domain Indices can be used to describe each type of deprivation in an area. This is important as it allows users of the Indices of Deprivation to focus on particular types of deprivation, and to compare this across wards. There may be great variation within a local authority, and the ward level Domain Indices allow for a sophisticated analysis of deprivation information.
The scores for the Income and Employment Deprivation Indices are rates. So for example if a ward scores 30.1 in the Income Domain, this means that 30.1% of the ward's population are Income deprived. The same applies to the Employment Domain. The scores for the remaining three domains are not rates. Within a domain, the higher the score, the more deprived the ward. However, the scores should not be compared between domains as they have different minimum and maximum values, and ranges. To compare between domains, the ranks should be used.
The overall Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation at ward level
The overall SIMD describes the ward by combining information from all five domains: Income, Employment, Health, Education, and Access. These were combined in two stages; first each domain was ranked and then transformed to a standard distribution - the exponential distribution described above. Then the domains were combined using the explicit domain weights chosen. The overall ward level SIMD is ranked in the same way as the Domain Indices.
The SIMD score is the combined sum of the weighted, exponentially transformed domain rank of the domain score. Again, the bigger the SIMD score, the more deprived the ward. However, because of the exponential distribution, it is not possible to say, for example, that a ward with a score of 40 is twice as deprived as a ward with a score of 20.
The most deprived ward according to the SIMD is assigned a rank of 1, and the least deprived ward, a rank of 1222.
The ward level geography of deprivation in Scotland
Ward Level Domains of Deprivation
Each domain of deprivation has been mapped at ward level. In addition a chart has been produced for each domain measure showing the most deprived rank, least deprived rank, and population weighted mean rank for each local authority in Scotland ( Map 1 shows the location of local authorities in Scotland).
The geographical distribution of income deprivation has a highly deprived belt from Fife and East Lothian to North and East Ayrshire, coupled with deprived areas in the Northern Highlands, the Western Isles and Aberdeen. Of the 10% most income deprived wards in Scotland, 35% (43 of 122 wards) are located in Glasgow. At the other end of the income deprivation scale Aberdeenshire and Edinburgh have large percentages of less deprived wards.
Chart 4.1 The Income Deprivation Domain: Range of Ranks by Local Authority
Chart 4.1 shows that most Scottish local authorities contain wards at both ends of the income deprivation spectrum. Local authorities that are relatively deprived generally contain some less deprived wards and vice versa. For instance, Glasgow which has an average rank of 239 on the Income Deprivation Measure (making it the most income-deprived council in Scotland) contains the Jordan Hill ward which has a rank of 1108 (where the least deprived rank is 1222). Conversely, a relatively less deprived council such as East Dumbartonshire which has a population weighted average rank of 930 contains the Hillhead And Broomhill Ward, which is ranked as the 101 st most income deprived ward in Scotland.
Chart 4.2 The Employment Deprivation Domain: Range of Ranks by Local Authority
Employment deprivation is located in largely the same areas as shown by the SIMD and income deprivation measures. As with income deprivation, there are some concentrated areas of employment deprivation in Scotland. Of the 10% most employment deprived wards in Scotland, 32% are in Glasgow and a further 12% are in Dundee City. As Chart 4.2 illustrates the pattern for the employment deprivation domain is similar to that for the income deprivation domain.
Chart 4.3 The Health Deprivation and Disability Domain: Range of Ranks By Local Authority
The health deprivation domain shows more evidence of the clustering of deprivation than the other domains. Health deprivation is focused more in the deprived 'belt' with the Highland and Western Isles wards not in the most deprived deciles on this measure (although again Aberdeen has a concentration of health deprived wards). 43% of the most health deprived 10% of wards in Scotland are located in Glasgow. At the other end of the scale, 28% and 17% of the least health deprived decile are in Aberdeenshire and Edinburgh respectively.
Chart 4.4 The Education, Skills and Training Deprivation Domain: Range of Ranks by Local Authority
The pattern of educational deprivation is similar to that for the employment and income deprivation. Most local authorities contain wards with different levels of deprivation. Aberdeen City for instance has wards across the spectrum - Queens Cross ward ranks 1172 of 1222 (i.e. it is one of the least education deprived wards in Scotland) and Auchmill Ward is ranked at 21 (i.e. one of the most education deprived wards).
Chart 4.5 The Geographical Access to Services Domain: Rank of Ranks by Local Authority
As is immediately apparent from Map 6 the pattern of deprivation on the geographical access to services measure is very different to that for the other domains. The Geographical Access to Services measure appears to be a near inversion of the other deprivation. As mentioned in the discussion of the SIMD, those wards that are deprived on the other measures of deprivation tend to be considerably less deprived in terms of geographical access to services. This does not imply that having geographical isolation from services is not a deprivation, merely that it is distributed very differently to the other dimensions of deprivation. This difference is shown by the fact that Glasgow's wards feature prominently in the least deprived decile of wards on the Geographical Access to Services domain whereas they are prominent in the most deprived decile of wards on the other domains.
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