Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) 2020

It is important to remember, the SIMD is an area-based measure of relative deprivation: not every person in a highly deprived area will themselves be experiencing high levels of deprivation

The latest Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) was published on 28 January 2020. It was then updated in June 2020. These figures and report are based on the updated version.

The SIMD is formed from more than 30 indicators of deprivation which have been grouped together into seven domains. The seven domains are combined to form a rank for each of the 6,976 datazones across Scotland, where rank 1 is the most deprived community and 6,976 is the least deprived. 

The SIMD is a tool for identifying the places in Scotland, North Lanarkshire and other council areas where people are experiencing disadvantage across many areas of their lives.

This booklet has been published by the Scottish Government explaining the SIMD, how to use it and some case studies of communities in Scotland. 

This interactive tool allows you to look at each datazone across Scotland and North Lanarkshire to see the overall ranking and ranking in each of the seven domains.

North Lanarkshire has 447 datazones which cover the council area. We have given each of these datazones a name to help locate them. These 447 datazones sit inside 78 intermediate datazones.  

The SIMD is made up of:

1.  an overall SIMD rank, where 1 = most deprived and 6,976 is least deprived
2.  seven domains: income, employment, health, education, housing, crime, access to services. Each datazone has a rank  within each domain as well as an overall rank. These ranks vary and looking at them all provides a fuller picture of each community.

• 144 (35%) datazones in North Lanarkshire are within the 20% most deprived communities in Scotland. This share has increased since the 2016 SIMD.

• Across Scotland, North Lanarkshire sits behind Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, West Dunbartonshire and Dundee in terms of the local share of datazones in this 20% most deprived.

Income deprivation

Across North Lanarkshire, 50,897 (15%) people are income deprived, the Scottish average is 12%.

Of this 50,897 income deprived population:

• 28,234 live in the 20% most deprived datazones and 21,655 live in the 15% most deprived datazones
• therefore, 22,663 income deprived people live outside the 20% most deprived datazones
• and 29,242 income deprived people live outside the 15% most deprived datazones

Employment deprivation

There are 24,796 working-age people in North Lanarkshire experiencing employment deprivation. This is 11% of the working-age population. In Scotland this is 9%.

• 13,415 people are employment deprived in the 20% most deprived datazones and 11,205 people are employment deprived in the 15% most deprived datazones,
• This means 11,381 employment-deprived people live outside the 20% most deprived datazones

Other SIMD Domains

There is more data available on health, education, crime, housing and access to services within the SIMD. 

For more information, please email PerformNL@northlan.gov.uk