Understanding Rural Deprivation
Information and data in relation to deprivation in rural areas has historically been very difficult to access. One of the standard tools for looking at deprivation is the Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD). However, this approach was primarily developed with an urban focus and as such does not provide a clear picture of rural deprivation.
The IMD was designed to create a relative measure of multiple deprivation at small area level and as such identifies specific areas. Deprivation is like social exclusion, multi-dimensional. Multiple deprivation can therefore be conceptualised as the combination of individual dimensions or 'domains' of deprivation. These individual domains must be identified and carefully defined. Indicators are selected for each domain which are the best possible direct measures of that dimension of deprivation. The indicators are combined to create an overall relative measure of that dimension of deprivation. Domains are then combined to form an overall Index of Multiple Deprivation. The focus of attention is generally directed at the 20% most deprived areas within that ranking.
The IMD geographical area is known as the Lower Super Output Area (LSOA). These are areas with a minimum population of 1000 people and an average of about 1500. They are however, built up of smaller building blocks, namely Output Areas (OAs). Generally 5 OAs constitute an LSOA with an OA having a minimum population of about 100 people and an average of about 300.
The LSOA geography when applied to rural communities can fail to identify deprived areas for the following reasons. Each OA is a discrete area of population and the selection mechanism for identifying these areas takes into consideration certain demographics known about the inhabitants of the area. As such the 'aggregation' of OAs to produce the larger geography of the LSOA will average out the deprivation in that area and can give the impression of the area being less deprived than parts of it actually are.
The work undertaken by ACRE, RCAN and OCSI was to model the IMD down to Output Area. This has the effect of revealing 'hidden' deprivation and giving a more accurate picture of a community.
Analysis of the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2007 identifies only 50 of the 3,248 most-deprived 10% of areas across England as being rural, and only 143 of the 6,496 most deprived 20% of areas – in other words only just over 2% of the most deprived 20% of areas in England are rural. However, the proportion of deprived people living in rural areas is substantially larger than this. In fact, 17% of the 5,310,000 households living on less than 60% of median income across England are in rural areas (for context, 19% of England’s population live in rural areas).
Put simply, rural areas are substantially more deprived based on the location of deprived people than based on the location of deprived areas. This level of understanding is a critical tool in influencing resource allocation for small rural communities and supporting local action such as Community Led Planning.
