Northern Ireland: Deprivation levels worst in UK
Deprivation is higher in Northern Ireland than in regions of England, and in Scotland and Wales, research by Queen's University Belfast has found.
Researchers compared census data on deprivation by employment, education and health across the UK.
The researchers found two local authorities in Northern Ireland – Derry and Strabane, and Belfast – have more deprived areas than any of the other 374 local authorities in England, Scotland or Wales and the rest of Northern Ireland.
The study also highlighted that Belfast has the worst levels of self-reported health deprivation in the UK.
The researchers found:
l Northern Ireland has the highest level of the most deprived areas in the UK at 25%;
l The north east of England has the second highest levels of deprived areas at 21%;
l The West Midlands (England) has the third highest levels at 16.5%.
The researchers also examined data on health deprivation. This data was self-reported by those who responded to the census.
They found that:
l Health deprivation is particularly high in Northern Ireland with nearly 28% of areas ranked among the most deprived by poor health across the UK;
l In Scotland, 23% of areas were among the most deprived by poor health.
This was the case for 16% of areas in north-east England.
Researchers said levels of health deprivation were lowest in London, with just 1.5% of areas ranked most deprived by poor health. The level was also low in the east of England at 2.65%.
The researchers used 2021 census data from England, Wales and Northern Ireland and 2022 census data from Scotland.