Index of Multiple Deprivation made better

Monday 20th March 2023

Nigel Bradshaw

The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) is a key modelling parameter for vulnerability and other people-driven measures. It is produced by the Government and is an aggregate area ranking across income, employment, education, health, crime, barriers to housing and the living environment.

IMD succinctly captures the relative quality of life and opportunities for people in each area.

However it has some drawbacks. It is produced separately by each country of the UK, and each rank covers a relatively large group of approximately 1,500 people.

More Metrics have made the IMD better by:

• creating a single UK-wide ranking to make it easier to use,
• modelling it down to smaller groups so each rank cover just 125 households.

It is therefore possible to replace the different countries' IMD classifications in models with a single consistent variable with greater granularity. All the time retaining the power and credibility of this well-respected and widely used Government measure.

Of course, if you don't use IMD yet, it has now never been easier.

For more information on all products or for any other questions on accessing our data Contact us.

In a future article we will consider the use of our variables for the individual domains of deprivation.

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