What is a Deprivation Score?
The Deprivation Score shows how deprived an area is compared to other areas in England, based on official government data called the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD).
How the IMD works
The government divides England into roughly 33,000 small neighbourhoods called Lower Super Output Areas (LSOAs), each containing around 1,500 people. Every neighbourhood is ranked from most to least deprived based on seven factors:
- Income – how many people are on low incomes
- Employment – how many people are out of work
- Education – skill levels and qualifications
- Health – rates of illness and disability
- Crime – levels of recorded crime
- Housing – barriers to housing and local services
- Living environment – quality of housing and outdoor environment
Reading the scores
The score is a percentile ranking from 0 to 100. Think of it as lining up every neighbourhood in England from most deprived to least deprived – the score tells you where that area falls in the queue.
| Score | What it means |
|-------|---------------|
| 0–10 | Among the most deprived 10% of areas |
| 10–20 | Among the most deprived 20% |
| 40–60 | Around average |
| 80–100 | Among the least deprived 20% |
A lower score (closer to 0) means a more deprived area. A higher score (closer to 100) means a less deprived area.
Example
A score of 43 means the area is more deprived than 43% of areas in England and less deprived than 57%. This indicates a neighbourhood slightly below the national average.
How we calculate scores for your reports
When we show deprivation data in your reports, we look at which neighbourhoods your participants come from and calculate a weighted average. This means areas where you've reached more people have a bigger influence on the overall score, giving you a realistic picture of the deprivation levels in the communities you serve.