Mapping the Most & Least Deprived

The Index of Multiple Deprivation is the official measure of relative deprivation in England. The index ranks every area in England from the most to least deprived. Over the years the indices have proved a popular data-set to map as a mapped visualization is a logical way to allow users to quickly explore relative deprivation in England by geographical area.

Alasdair Rae of Sheffield University has created a new interactive map which visualizes the 10% most and least deprived areas in England based on the index. IMD 2015: The 10% colors the most deprived areas in England red on the map and the least deprived blue. If you zoom in on a city on the map you can quickly see where the areas of most and least deprivation are.

If you hover over a colored area on the map you can view the area's IMD decile and IMD rank.


If you want to explore how every area in the UK is ranked in the Index of Deprivation you can use the Index of Multiple Deprivation Explorer. This map visualizes the 2015 Indices of Deprivation for England and allows you to explore the data by any location in England.

The Index of Multiple Deprivation Explorer allows you to view choropleth layers for a number of the indices. If you select a Lower Super Output Area level area (LSOA) on the map you can explore the details for each of the indices. The details show how the area ranks within the 32,844 LSOAs in England for the selected index.

The map side-panel also shows how neighboring LSOAs rank for the same selected index of deprivation.


CDRC Maps allows you to find out how an area's deprivation rank has changed from the 2010 and 2015 Indices of Deprivation. It provides a useful visualization of which areas in England improved and worsened in terms of relative deprivation during the five years between the publication of the two indices.

The blue areas on the map are becoming less deprived at a faster rate than the red areas on the map. The red areas on the map have not necessarily become more deprived since the last Indices of Deprivation, they may also be actually becoming less deprived, but at a slower rate.

Suprageography has published more details about this new map layer on CDRC Maps and has also examined some of the areas of England which have shown the biggest changes since the last Indices were published. For example, the five London boroughs which hosted the 2012 Olympics are all areas which have become less deprived at a relatively fast rate.