Deprivation

Page updated 05/11/2025

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Background

Deprivation and poverty are related but slightly different.

  • Deprivation - unmet needs caused by a lack of resources of all kinds
    • The main measure is the 2025 Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD 2025) from the Indices of Deprivation (IoD) suite.
    • IoD is an area based measure, so people living within the area may have different experiences, although it describes the area as a whole and individuals will be influenced by the people and place around them.
    • IoD is available for small areas (Lower Super Output Area, LSOA)
    • Socioeconomic Status is the alternative individual measure.
  • Poverty - lack of resources required to meet those needs
    • Poverty is often measured using income, as low income is a significant aspect of poverty, and can be more easily compared consistently across countries. However there are other aspects of poverty.
    • The UK's official poverty statistics come from the Housholds Below Average Income (HBAI) release. However this only goes down to region, there is no Bolton figure available from this.
    • The main indicator is people who have a disposable household income (income after adding on benefits and taking off direct taxes) which is less than 60% of the average income, adjusted for the number of people in their household.
  • See the sections below for more information on deprivation and poverty.

Deprivation

What is deprivation and how do we measure it?

The Indices of Deprivation (IoD) provides a set of relative measures of deprivation for small areas across England, based on seven different domains of deprivation. Each of the domains are constructed from a basket of different datasets or indicators. Combining information from the seven domains produces an overall relative measure of deprivation, the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) which is the most widely used of the IoD. Each dated issue of the IoD builds on the last with a slightly different basket of indicators, so differently dated releases are not directly comparable. The domains can also be used seperately if that is a specific focus of work. IMD combines domains with the following weights.

The Indices of deprivation 2025 was released on 30th October 2025. This page will be updated in the coming days to reflect key points for Bolton. In the meantime you might want to check out the map based deprivation 2025 explorer

There are substantial health inequalities between people from different deprivation groups, which you can explore more at https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/profile/inequality-tools. The IoD is an area based measure, so not every person in an area will experience deprivation to precisely the same extent - see also socioeconomic status.

Deprivation domains

  • Income domain (22.5% of the IMD) - the proportion of the population in an area experiencing deprivaiton relating to low income.
    • Income deprivation affecting children index - proportion of all children aged 0-15 who are affected by income deprivation.
    • Income deprivation affecting older people index - proportion of all those aged 60+ who are affected by income deprivation.
  • Employment domain (22.5% of the IMD) - proportion of the working-age (18-66) population who are involuntaily excluded from the labour market e.g. by unemployment, sickness or disability, or caring responsibilities.
  • Education, skills and training domain (13.5% of the IMD) - lack of attainment and skills in the local population.
    • Children and young people sub-domain - 'flow' of educational disadvantage within an area.
    • Adults subdomain - 'stock' of educational disadvantage within an area.
  • Health and disability domain (13.5% of the IMD) - the risk of premature death and the impairment of quality of life through poor physical or mental health.
  • Crime domain (9.3% of the IMD) - the risk of personal and material victimisation at a local level.
  • Barriers to housing and services domain (9.3% of the IMD) - the physical and financial accessibility of housing and local services.
    • Geographical barriers sub-domain - The geographical (in)accessibility of key local services and amenities.
    • Wider barriers sub-domain - broader issues of accessiblity such as access to affordable housing and other important services.
  • Living environment domain (9.3% of the IMD) - the quality of the local environment
    • Indoor subdomain - the quality of the home environment.
    • Outoor subdomain - the quality of the local neighbourhood envrionment.

Measuring the domains

  • See IoD 2025 technical report for full details
  • Income domain Measured by: adults/ families in receipt of a range of income related benefits (universial credit with out of work conditionality requirements, plus some legacy recipients of income support, income based jobseekers' allowance, income based employment and support allowance, pension credit, asylum seekers in dispersed accomodation receiving support) where the household income is below 70% of the national median after housing costs. Data relates to end of March 2024.
  • Employment domain Measured by: in receipt of a range of benefits payable to those who are not working (Universal credit 'planning' and 'preparing for work' - which includes those with caring reseponsibilities, New Style Jobseeker's Allowance, NEw Stye Employment and Support Allowance, Income Support). Data relates to 2022/23.
  • Education, skills and training domain
    • Children and young people sub-domain Measured by: key stage 2 and 4 attainment, entry to higher education, pupil absence, persistant absence.
    • Adults subdomain Measured by: no / low qualifications, cannot speak English or not well.
  • Health and disability domain Measured by: people in receipt of illness related benefits, under 75 mortality, emergency hospital admissions, suicide rate, mental health hospital admissions, mental health prescribing, in recieipt of mental health or behavioural disorder related benefits. The mental health elements of this domain have been strengthened since 2019 with a wider range of indicators. Data relates to 2021/22, 2022/23.
  • Crime domain Measured by: recorded crime rates for violence with/ without injury, stalking and harrassment, burglary, theft, criminal damage, public order and posession of weapons, anti-social behaviour (ASB). Recorded crime data were provided for six statistical years, from 2018/19 to 2023/24, inclusive - longer than IoD 2019 to make the indicator less susceptible to small number variation. Incidents of ASB were provided for two statistical years, 2022/23 and 2023/24. Where a crime or incident occurred within 10 metres of an LSOA boundary, it was apportioned equally to the areas either side of the boundary; crimes and incidents initially geocoded to police stations and police headquarters was distributed across the whole force area.
  • Barriers to housing and services domain
    • Geographical barriers sub-domain Measured by: connectivity score from the DfT connectivity tool. This measures travel time to retail, education, health, employment, leisure/ entertainment destinations by walking, cycling and public transport.
    • Wider barriers subdomain - broader issues of accessiblity such as access to affordable housing and other important services. Measured by: housing affordability (owner/ private rent), household overcrowding, homelessness, broadband speed, patient to GP ratio.
  • Living environment domain
    • Indoor subdomain Measured by: private/ social housing failing to meet Decent Homes standard, housing Energy Performance Score, housing lacking private outdoor space
    • Outoor subdomain Measured by: air quality compared to the WHO 2021 air quality guidelines; road traffic collisions involving injury to cyclists/ pedestrians (2019-23), noise pollution (>55dB)

The Bolton picture

IMD is calculated for small areas (Lower Super Output Areas - LSOAs). Every LSOA in England is ranked from most deprived (ranked 1) to least deprived. It is common to describe how relatively deprived a small area is by saying whether it falls among the most deprived 10% or 20% of small areas in England (although there is no definitive cut-off at which an area is described as ‘deprived’).

Using mid 2022 LSOA population estimates, as provided with the IoD 2025:

  • 28% of the Bolton population live in an area that is among the 10% most deprived nationally
  • 46% of the Bolton population live in an area that is among the 20% most deprived nationally.
  • 6% of the Bolton population live in an area that is among the 10% least deprived nationally
  • 13% of the Bolton population live in an area that is among the 20% least deprived nationally.

Click here to open the map in a new window

There are a number of ways of combining LSOAs to larger geographies such as local authority areas - we tend to use the 'rank of average scores'. We use it in preference to the also often used ‘rank of average ranks’ because scores can spread out more than ranks and more deprived LSOAs tend to have more ‘extreme’ scores than ranks. With the 'rank of average scores', these differences won't be flattened out so much. Because Bolton has many deprived areas, we want to be able to look at it carefully.

Explore more

There are a number of interactive tools to explore IMD. Here are some of those we’ve found most useful.

IoD 2025 resources

IoD 2019 resources

Poverty & cost of living

Poverty is typically defined in terms of disposable household income (income after adding on benefits and deducting direct taxes), adjusted for the number of people in the household. Although low income is a significant aspect of poverty, there are other aspects of poverty too.

The UK's official poverty statistics are provided by the Housholds Below Average Income (HBAI) release however this only goes down to region level, there is no Bolton figure available from this. Two commonly used measures of poverty based on disposable income are given below. Median income is the point at which half of households have lower income and half have higher income. Income can be measured before or after housing costs are deducted.

  • Relative low income - people living in households with income below 60% of the median in that year.
  • Absolute low income - people living in households with income below 60% of median income in a base year, usually 2010/11. This measurement is adjusted for inflation.

HBAI also includes measures of ‘material deprivation’, which provide an indication of peoples’ ability to access or afford a range of everyday goods and services. Statistics are also included on household food security, which measure the percentage of households considered to have access to sufficient, varied food to facilitate an active and healthy lifestyle.

The Bolton picture

Specific types of poverty

  • Child poverty:
    • Child poverty - child poverty levels from the End Child Poverty Coalition, together with the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University. Includes Bolton and parliamentary constituancy figures. For 2023-24, 42% of Bolton children (31,000 individuals) live in poverty. This puts Bolton 16th highest local authority (out of 361) in the country.
    • Children in low income families - local area statistics from the ONS. In 2024, 38% of Bolton children (24,600 individuals) live in relative low-income households. This puts Bolton among the top 20 highest in the country.
    • Opportunity index - from the Sutton Trust

Other useful resources