- There is no official UK-wide index of multiple deprivation (IMD). Instead, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each have their own IMD. Direct comparisons between these are problematic.
- Some academics have developed methods to allow comparisons between these different data – with significant caveats and a reduction in data quality.
- The claim that Derry/Londonderry, as a whole, is at the very top of indices of multiple deprivation depends on the level of aggregation used.
- In the comparisons that are possible, it is fair to say that Derry/Londonderry is ONE of the most socially deprived places in the UK and by some measures the most deprived.
- Using data from the most recent IMDs, and noting that much of this data comes from different time periods, it is possible to rank local authority areas by levels of deprivation – and Derry and Strabane is at the top. However, when looking at parliamentary constituencies, Foyle is in second place behind Belfast West.
- However, the specific claim is that the Maiden City is “invariably” at the top – and the evidence indicates that this is not the case. Instead, it depends on how you look at the data. Based on that, our rating is inaccurate with consideration.
In an 18 August article for the Irish Times, author Neil Hegarty claimed that:
“Derry invariably tops the list when it comes to UK indices of social deprivation.”
England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each utilise their own indices of multiple deprivation. Comparisons between these different sets of data very difficult.
However, academic research exists that allows the different datasets to be used in such a way that makes a degree of comparison possible. However, it is not comparing like with like.
Those methods have been applied to the most recent indices of multiple deprivation from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The findings from that effort include that Derry and Strabane District Council is the most deprived local authority area in the UK. But when looking at parliamentary constituencies, rather than local councils, Foyle is not ranked as most deprived. It is ranked second, behind Belfast West.
Based on this, it is fair to say that Derry/Londonderry is one of the most socially deprived places in the UK and by some measures the most deprived.
However, the claim says Derry/Londonderry is “invariably” at the top – and that single word has a clear-cut meaning. The available evidence indicates that Derry/Londonderry is not invariably at the top of the list for deprivation. Because of that, our rating here is inaccurate with consideration.
To get a proper understanding of what that finding means – and what its limitations are – it is worth exploring all this in more detail. Read on.
- Sources
FactCheckNI contacted Mr Hegarty about this claim but, at the time of writing, had received no reply.
In the UK, there is no such thing as an index of “social deprivation”. FactCheckNI has interpreted this to refer to Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMDs), which are in use across the UK.
Foreign equivalents for IMDs include Australia’s Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas and the Social Deprivation Index in the USA. The Pobal HP Deprivation Index is produced every five years in Ireland.
We have also interpreted “Derry” to refer broadly to the city, rather than the county, based on the article in which the claim was made.
- Indices
Across the UK, each IMD uses separate data.
This makes comparisons between the situation in each country difficult – but more on that later.
First, a closer look at Northern Ireland.
- Local index and domains
The latest Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure (NIMDM), which was published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) in 2017, assesses deprivation across 890 distinct areas known as Super Output Areas (SOAs), designations that were created for the 2011 Census.
NI’s index uses data across seven distinct types, or “domains”, of deprivation to produce an overall score that was used to rank each SOA’s level of deprivation. Those seven domains are:
- Income Deprivation;
- Employment Deprivation;
- Health Deprivation & Disability;
- Education, Skills & Training;
- Access to Services;
- Living Environment; and
- Crime & Disorder.
In Northern Ireland, the SOA ranked as the most deprived is the “East” SOA in Strabane. Four of the ten most deprived SOAs in Northern Ireland are located in Derry/Londonderry.
This claim centres on comparisons between Derry/Londonderry and the rest of the UK. How does that stack up?
- Tricky comparisons
There is no official, UK-wide index of multiple deprivation.
The latest English indices of deprivation were published in 2019 and are available here.
The most recent Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) was published in 2020. Its core data is here (while a datamap of the information is available here).
The most recent Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) was published in 2019 and is here.
Direct comparisons of multiple deprivation between the four different countries (or between places that are contained within different countries) are difficult. A major reason for this is the different methodologies used. For instance, each country uses different sets of domains to calculate their overall levels of deprivation.
However, an alternative does exist. Researchers from the universities of Exeter, Cambridge and Bristol developed a unified measure that does allow for comparisons between places in different countries of the UK.
- Caveats
The method outlined in the research above provides a way to compare levels of multiple deprivation across the UK – but this comes with caveats, several of which are outlined in the introduction and summary of methods for the research, which was published in the British Medical Journal:
- The model uses only two of the many different deprivation domains to calculate its overall scores for different areas (employment and income). However, information from all other domains, across each country, is still factored into the overall rankings for each area.
- Source data for each country comes from a variety of years, therefore many different areas are being compared at different points in time.
- The basic areas used in each country – SOAs in Northern Ireland, and their equivalents elsewhere – are not formulated in the same way and do not have equal population sizes across each country.
The methodology from that research has been used to create a Composite 2020 UK Index of Multiple Deprivation, published on mySociety.
The composite index should be read with the caveats above in mind (and itself discusses these broad qualifications in some detail). In fact, due to changes in the way NI calculated its most recent index of multiple deprivation, only one of the domains of deprivation (employment) is used directly to evaluate the relative deprivation of each area across the UK as a whole. Nevertheless, it remains the case that data from all the domains in all the IMDs finds its way into the rankings.
With all that in mind, what does the composite index say?
- Results
The results of the composite index indicate that NI has high levels of deprivation compared with the rest of the UK, based on the overall rankings of the 42,619 SOAs (and equivalents) across all four constituent countries.
In total, 49 of the 50 most deprived SOAs are in Northern Ireland, including the entire top ten – and four of that top ten are located in the City of Derry/Londonderry.
The claim that Derry/Londonderry, as a whole, is at the very top of indices of multiple deprivation depends on the level of aggregation used.
When looking at parliamentary constituencies, Foyle (which contains Derry/Londonderry) is ranked second behind Belfast West. The top ten most deprived parliamentary constituencies are:
- Belfast West
- Foyle
- Belfast North
- West Tyrone
- Newry and Armagh
- Blackpool South
- Liverpool Riverside
- Birmingham Ladywood
- Knowsley
- East Londonderry
However, when ranking local authorities a different result is obtained. The most deprived council area in the UK, according to the composite index, is indeed Derry and Strabane. The top ten is:
- Derry City and Strabane District Council
- Belfast City Council
- Fermanagh and Omagh District Council
- Newry, Mourne and Down District Council
- Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council
- Blackpool Borough Council
- Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
- Liverpool City Council
- Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council
- Mid Ulster District Council
- What does this mean for the claim?
The original claim states:
“Derry invariably tops the list when it comes to UK indices of social deprivation.”
There is no official UK index of multiple deprivation.
The best (and only) equivalent that FactCheckNI was able to locate is the composite index described above. If anyone knows of any other such measures, please get in touch.
Does Derry/Londonderry top the list? The core units of all the indices used by constituent countries of the UK – SOAs in Northern Ireland, and their equivalents elsewhere – are much smaller than a city, comprising a couple of thousand people at most.
Ranking deprivation by local authority area is one valid way for assessing where Derry/Londonderry sits – and Derry and Strabane District Council is indeed the most deprived council area in the UK, according to the composite index. Noting the fact that this level of aggregation combines the Maiden City with Strabane, and that the East SOA in Strabane is ranked as the most deprived SOA in Northern Ireland’s own index of multiple deprivation, this does provide evidence to support the claim.
However, what about the word “invariably”?
When ranking parliamentary constituencies, Foyle is actually second in overall deprivation, behind Belfast West. This means that whether Derry/Londonderry is the most deprived or, rather, one of the most deprived places comes down to interpretations. It is not “invariably” at the top.
For this reason – and notwithstanding the fact that, for people living in the city, whether it is the most deprived or merely the second most deprived place in the UK is perhaps not a distinction of huge material significance – the claim is inaccurate with consideration.
