The Index of Multiple Deprivation measures poverty and deprivation across seven domains: income, employment, education, health, crime, barriers to housing and services, and living environment. It ranks small areas in England from most to least deprived based on indicators in each domain. Local authorities use the index to identify areas with high levels of deprivation and prioritize allocation of resources and services to disadvantaged neighborhoods and populations.

1. Indices of Multiple Deprivation
Poverty and deprivation in the UK

2. The Index of Multiple Deprivation is a UK
government statistical study of deprived areas in
UK local authorities.
• It measures poverty and deprivation
The Seven Domains of Deprivation
across seven different dimensions or
‘domains’
Income
• Poverty can be defined as a lack of
financial resources to obtain the types
of diet, participate in the activities and Education
Employment
have the living conditions and and Skills
amenities which are customary, or at
least widely encouraged or approved in Housing &
the society to which we belong Health and
Barriers to
• Deprivation can be defined as a lack of Disability
Services
resources of all kinds, not just financial.
It can encompass a wide range of an
individual’s living conditions, not just Living
Crime
lack of money Environment
The index of Multiple Deprivation is considered to be one of the most significant pieces
of research into poverty and deprivation currently available. It is widely used by local
authorities to prioritise and allocate resources and services in your area.

3. Low income is a central component of
the definition of multiple deprivation
• While people experiencing some These domains are combined, with
forms of deprivation may not all have appropriate weighting, into a single
low income, people experiencing measure of multiple deprivation
multiple or very severe forms of Living
deprivation are likely to have very Environment
Deprivation
little income and few other resources 9%
• Because income is so important Crime
Income
23%
(along with employment), it is 9%
‘weighted’ when calculating the
index of multiple deprivation
Education, S
kills and Employment
Training 23%
Deprivation
14% Health
Barriers to
Deprivation
Housing &
& Disability
Services
13%
9%

4. The index of multiple deprivation ranks and scores
tiny geographical areas called Lower Super Output
Areas or LSOA’s
• Lower Super Output areas contain Example: Lower Super Output area E01016664 in
approximate populations of 1,000 to the local authority of Wokingham
1,500 people
• There are 32,482 Lower Super Output
Areas or LSOA's in England.
• An area is characterised as deprived
relative to other areas on the basis of
the proportion of people in the area It has an IMD score of
experiencing the type of deprivation in 0.94
question – in other words it is given a
‘rank’
This gives it a rank of 32,474 – which
means it is one of the least deprived
• Each LSOA area is ranked where 1 is
areas in England
the most deprived and 32,482 is the
least deprived.

5. The full rank of LSOA 32,482 can be grouped into
Deciles to make comparison easier
Example: LSOA E01000008 in Barking
and Dagenham local authority
It has an IMD score of 45.22...
..which gives it a rank of 3,172.
This puts in Decile 10 which means the area is in
the most deprived 10% of areas in England.

6. The ranks and scores can then be plotted on a ‘heat map’
and colour coded to indicate the level of deprivation
You can do this for Index of
Multiple Deprivation or for
one of the seven domains
such as Income deprivation
or Employment
Deprivation

7. Inequalities in income and wealth
translate into residential segregation
 Differences in house prices, rents and
tenure along with the labour market
act as a sifting process:
while the relatively affluent can choose
to live in certain kinds of
neighbourhoods, the less affluent cannot
 The rationed nature of social housing
exacerbates this trend with the
most needy and vulnerable who
qualify for housing
 The result is that the most
vulnerable and those with the least
choices are concentrated together in
‘undesirable’ areas

8. IMD data is used by local authorities to prioritise
and allocate resources based on need
• Different domains can also be
separately mapped – for example a
map focusing on the health domain
may reveal some areas of high need
that may not be considered deprived
on the overall index of multiple
deprivation
• Local authorities use such data to
allocate resources efficiently for
programmes such as
regeneration, neighbourhood renewal
or to identify disadvantaged pupils for
additional support or allocate grants to
community groups
• It can also be used for targeted
interventions at the neighbourhood
level