Index of Multiple Deprivation 2007
This is the latest version of The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), based on the premise that deprivation is made up of separate dimensions, or 'domains' of deprivation. Within the IMD, these domains are made up of a number of indicators which cover aspects of deprivation as comprehensively as possible. The IMD 2007 contains seven domains of deprivation, each of which is now outlined.
Income Deprivation Domain
The Income domain measures people who are on a low income. Income deprivation is one of the most important aspects of deprivation. The indicators in this domain are made up of the counts of people in families in receipt of means tested benefits.
Employment Deprivation Domain
This domain measures employment deprivation conceptualised as involuntary exclusion of the working age population from the world of work.
Health Deprivation and Disability Domain
This domain identifies areas with relatively high rates of people who die prematurely or whose quality of life is impaired by poor healthy or who are disabled, across the whole population.
Education, Skills and Training Deprivation Domain
This domain captures the extent of deprivation in terms of education, skills and training in a local area. The indicators fall into two sub-domains: one relating to education deprivation for children / young people in the area and one relating to lack of skills and qualifications among the working age adult population.
Barriers to Housing and Services Domain
The purpose of this domain is to measure barriers to housing and key local services. The indicators fall into two sub-domains: 'geographical barriers' and 'wider barriers' which also includes issues relating to access to housing, such as affordability
Crime Domain
This domain measures the incidence of recorded crime for four major crime themes, representing the occurrence of personal and material victimisation at a small area level.
The Living Environment Deprivation Domain
This domain focuses on deprivation with respect to the characteristics of the living environment. It comprises two sub-domains: the 'indoors' living environment which measures the quality of housing, and the 'outdoors' living environment which contains two measures about air quality and road traffic accidents.
Outputs
Outputs for the IMD 2007 are given at the level of Super Output Area (SOA). SOAs are geographically defined areas that have been designed for the collection and publication of small area statistics.
To enable comparisons to be made between the level of deprivation in different SOAs, each one has been ascribed an overall national rank for 2007, determined by the aggregation of the 7 domains of deprivation outlined above. There are 32,482 SOAs in England, with the most deprived given a rank of 1 and the least deprived ward given a rank of 32,482. The overall rank of an SOA can as such be used to show how it compares to all the other SOAs in the country as regards to level of deprivation.
