Deprivation



Introduction
As with most cities, Birmingham has areas of differing levels of affluence. Some areas of the city are extremely deprived – where wages are lower, more people are unemployed and the health outcomes of residents are poorer.

It is possible to identify where these areas are, and also compare the level of deprivation in Birmingham with other areas by using the Index of Multiple Deprivation. The IMD 2010 can be used to rank every Lower Super Output Area in England according to their relative level of deprivation. Each LSOA is “ranked” on its position out of the other 32,000+ LSOAs in the country. From this information we can ascertain which SOAs are amongst the most deprived nationally.

Using this measure Birmingham ranks as the 9th most deprived out of the 354 authorities in England. Birmingham is the most deprived of the West Midlands Metropolitan authorities, and of the 9 Core Cities, only Liverpool and Manchester rank as being more deprived than Birmingham.

And it is important to remember that not everyone living in a deprived area is deprived –and that not all deprived people live in deprived area

Key Findings and Statistics
 Birmingham suffers from high levels of deprivation, with 40% of the population living in SOAs in the 10% most deprived in England  The city is ranked the most deprived of all the greater Birmingham and Solihull LEPauthorities  Birmingham is ranked the third most deprived Core City (behind Liverpool and Manchester)  Birmingham is the most deprived authority in the West Midlands metropolitan area when measured by the rank of average score  While there are pockets of deprivation in all parts of the city, deprivation is most heavily clustered in the wards surrounding the city centre  Within Birmingham the 10 wards with the largest proportion of their population living in the 10% most deprived SOAs in England are:   Washwood Heath </li> Sparkbrook </li> Lozells & East Handsworth </li> Bordesley Green </li> Aston </li> Shard End </li> Nechells </li> Kingstanding</li> Soho </li> Tyburn </li> </ul> Ladywood is the most deprived constituency in the city. </li> There is a large degree of variation between different areas of the city. 94% of Washwood Heath residents live in SOAs in the 10% most deprived in England, but none of the Sutton Coldfield wards have any SOAs in the 10% most deprived </li> </ul>

Deprivation in Birmingham
Location of the most deprived areas in Birmingham



The map to the right highlights where the most deprived areas of the city are according to the IMD ranking. These are mainly areas of inner city neighbourhoods – areas in wards such as Sparkbrook, Washwood Heath and Aston. However communities outside of the city centre such as Kingstanding, Shard End and Kings Norton are also amongst the most deprived areas in the country.

As the IMD provides data on the entire country, it is possible to establish where Birmingham’s LSOAs rank nationally. The worst ranked is in Sparkbrook (25th worst nationally), while the best ranked LSOA is in Sutton Trinity (1,139st best).

Change over time within Birmingham

The maps below attempt to show how areas have changed over time through the different IMD data releases of 2004, 2007 and 2010. When comparing data sets over time we cannot show ACTUAL improvement or worsening in the deprivation of areas. However it is possible to show the position of Birmingham LSOAs relative to areas across the country. The maps below show Birmingham LSOAs in the top 1% (Purple) 3% (Red) 5% (Orange) and 10% (Yellow) most deprived LSOAs in the country. The maps seem to indicate that there have been some changes overtime in the relative position of some Birmingham LSOAs. For example areas of Kingstanding and Shard End  have become relatively more deprived between 2004 and 2010 (becoming Red or Purple). Whereas some of the more inner city areas, such as Lozells, East Handsworth, have seen their rankings improve over the past 7 years.



National Comparisons

The index suggests that overall there has been no significant change in the relative overall level of deprivation in Birmingham. The city contains some of the most deprived areas of the country with 40% of people living in areas that are in the 10% most deprived in England.

There are a number of ways of comparing areas.

Average scores - This measure describes the district as a whole and is calculated by averaging the score for each SOA, weighted for its population. Using this measure:

<ul> Birmingham ranks as the 9th most deprived out of the 354 authorities in England </li> Birmingham is the most deprived of the LEP authorities, and is 108 places above the next deprived LEP authority, Redditch. Bromsgrove is the least deprived LEP authority. </li> Birmingham is the most deprived of the West Midlands Metropolitan authorities and Solihull is the least deprived. </li> Of the Core Cities, Liverpool and Manchester rank as being more deprived than Birmingham and Bristol is the least deprived. </li> </ul> Extent - The extent shows the proportion of an authority’s population living in the 30% most deprived SOAs in the country, and reveals how widespread high levels of deprivation are. <ul> Birmingham is ranked 10th in England </li> <li style="margin-left:40px;">With a ranking of 10, Birmingham is 77 places above the next LEP authority, Redditch, ranked 87th Bromsgrove has the best ranking of the LEP authorities, at 258. </li> <li style="margin-left:40px;">Looking at the WM Metropolitan authorities, Birmingham is ranked below Sandwell, but above all others. Solihull has the ‘best’ ranking at 119th.</li> <li style="margin-left:40px;">Birmingham is the third ranked Core City behind Liverpool and Manchester. </li> </ul> Local Concentration - The Local Concentration is the average of the ranks of the districts most deprived SOAs that contain 10% of the population, and is an important way of measuring hotspots in an area. <ul> <li style="margin-left:40px;">Birmingham is ranked 20th in England. <li style="margin-left:40px;">Birmingham is ranked 20th, and is 88 places above the next LEP authority, Solihull, ranked 98th. At 256th, Bromsgrove has the best ranking of the LEP authorities. </li> <li style="margin-left:40px;">Birmingham is ranked above all other WM Metropolitan authorities.Wolverhampton is the second ranked of these authorities at 31st, and Solihull the ‘best’ at 98th. </li> <li style="margin-left:40px;">Birmingham is the third ranked of all the Core Cities, behind Liverpool and Manchester. Bristol has the best ranking </li> </ul>

One measure that is used nationally to define deprived areas is the proportion of LSOAs in a local authority that are within the 5% most deprived nationally. Liverpool is the local authority with the highest proportion of its LSOAs meeting this criteria in both 2007 and 2010. Birmingham is the local authority with the largest number of LSOAs that are amongst the most deprived in 2010