What is SIMD used for?
The SIMD is a key tool for identifying the ongoing problem of area concentrations of deprivation and the specific issues and challenges that these areas face. It is used for a wide range of purposes including as a statistical classification and as an indicator to target resources and policies at small areas (see the resource allocation FAQ for some examples). It also feeds into work looking at Health inequalities across Scotland. The index is also used as a tool in itself with the individual domains and indicators being used for a variety of purposes. For example, some Local Authorities use levels of income and employment deprivation to assess and monitor need.
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The datazone is the key small area statistical geography in Scotland. Developed in 2004 in conjunction with Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics (SNS), SNS introduced for the first time, a common, stable and consistent small area geography. There are 6,505 datazones covering the whole of Scotland, which nest within local authority boundaries. Datazones are groups of 2001 Census ouput areas and have, on average, populations of between 500 and 1,000 household residents. Where possible, they have been made to respect physical boundaries and natural communities. They have a regular shape and, as far as possible, contain households with similar social characteristics.
For further FAQs and to find out more about the development of datazones, refer to the Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics Data Zones Background Information publication.
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Which datazones are in ... ?
To find which datazones are in a larger geography, such as intermediate zones, multi-member wards, and community health parthnerships, you can use the Quick Lookup file to do so. This can be found through the Data and Analysis section, in the SIMD Look-Up Tables navigation bar on the right.
Identify the column with the higher level geography that you are interested in (such as intermediate zones). Click on the small arrow to the bottom right of the column name and a small window will pop up. Scroll to the top of the pop up window and choose sort ascending. This column will be sorted alphabetically and all the other columns will be resorted to match it. Scroll down to the area you are interested in to see the datazones listed under one name.
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How can I link postcodes to SIMD ranks or deciles?
You can make use of our SIMD Postcode Lookup section which contains postcode lookup files by local authority. The first tab of the spreadsheet is named "Description" where there is a "Quick Finder" feature to help you match a postcode to an SIMD rank or decile (amongst other things). The second tab will be labelled with the local authority name. Here you can see a complete list of postcodes in the local authority and their corresponding values.
Alternatively, you can find the SIMD rank by putting one postcode at a time in to the 'Quick Profile' tool on the Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics website. SIMD rank is one of the summary statistics provided in the profile.
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Where does my area sit on the SIMD?
The SIMD ranks the 6,505 datazones that cover Scotland from most deprived (ranked 1) to least deprived (ranked 6,505). To find out about datazones see our What is a datazone? FAQ.
Many uses of the SIMD focus on the most deprived 15% of datazones in Scotland. This means any datazone with a rank between 1 and 976. However sometimes a different cut-off is more suitable. Some possible cut-offs are listed below:
Most deprived 5% ranked between 1 and 325
Most deprived 10% ranked between 1 and 651
Most deprived 15% ranked between 1 and 976
Most deprived 20% ranked between 1 and 1301
Most deprived 25% ranked between 1 and 1626
Most deprived 30% ranked between 1 and 1952
By datazone code
To find out the rank of the datazone you are interested in you can:
- Use the interactive mapping on this website - select the type of mapping to use and then type the datazone code into the search box. The map will zoom in on your datazone of interest and, if you scroll down you'll see it's ranking;
- Use the datazone lookup - select your datazone on the Datazone Search or Datazone Profile worksheets.
By postcode
To find out the rank of the datazone that contains a postcode you are interested in:
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Can I produce an SIMD rank for areas larger than datazones?
The SIMD is calculated at datazone level only. In order to measure how deprived larger areas are, it is necessary to look at the proportion of datazones within that larger area that fall within the 5, 10 or 15% most deprived areas or the proportion that fall within bands of say 5% or 10%.
To compare local authorities, it is most appropriate to use the proportion of data zones, or the proportion of the population, in the 15% most deprived.
It is important to bear in mind that datazones nest directly into intermediate geographies and local authorities. However, they do not fit exactly into other higher level geographies, e.g. multi-member wards. Any comparisons of the SIMD at these geographies will be on a "best fit" basis only.
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Can I average datazone ranks to get an idea of the deprivation for a larger area?
We recommend that you don't do this. The SIMD ranks tell you that one datazone is more deprived than another but not how much more deprived. Rather, you could consider the background data that make up the individual domains, and compare these against other areas. For example, you could work out the percentage of the population in the area that is income deprived as one measure of the deprivation in that area. This is not appropriate for all domains and indicators - for more details of indicators that can and cannot be used in this way you can try looking at the Technical Report or you can contact us. You may also want to refer to the " Can I produce an SIMD rank for areas larger than datazones?" FAQ for more information.
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How can we use SIMD to understand communities better?
The SIMD ranks provide a relative measure of deprivation. It is important to note that because the rankings of datazones within the index are relative, it is not possible to tell, from the rank, how much more deprived one datazone is than another. A datazone ranked 5 is not necessarily twice as deprived as one that is ranked 10. Likewise, a datazone with a more deprived rank in SIMD 2009 than it had in SIMD 2006 may not necessarily have become more deprived in absolute terms, rather its relative position to other areas has worsened.
To find out why an area has a different ranking to another, it is possible to investigate the domains and indicators that make up the overall SIMD rank. These are available in the data and analysis section section of the SIMD website. Individual indicators provide absolute values for each datazones and so can provide information on how much more deprived one area is than another.
To assess why a datazone may have changed rank over time, again, it is possible to look at individual indicators in the data and analysis section of the website. Care must be taken when comparing indicators between SIMD 2004, 2006, and 2009 as some data sources have changed and the methodology for compiling the indicators may have changed. These changes are described for each indicator in the SIMD 2006 technical report and the SIMD 2009 technical report.
The employment domain, however, has seen no changes to methodology or data source between the three indices and, as it is an absolute measure (proportion of working age population that are employment deprived) and it has one of the greatest weightings in the overall SIMD rank, it will provide a good indication as to why an area may have changed rank.
Finally, as datazone boundaries have remained constant, populations within datazones may have changed and this might affect the overall SIMD rank.
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Can I compare SIMD to other indices of deprivation across the United Kingdom?
Each of the four nations in the United Kingdom produces its own index. Although each of the indices are based on the same methodology, the respective indices are not comparable for a range of reasons, including: the use of different geographies (Scottish datazones are considerably smaller than the SOAs used in England and Wales) and the use of slightly different indicators and weightings. One way around some of these issues would be to select a number of relevant indicators for which consistent data is available across the UK (e.g. benefit claimant data) and compare areas this way. However, you should bear in mind that you will be comparing across the different geographies used in the different countries.
The Office for National Statistics have put together a website to explain in more detail the similarities and differences between the four indices. They have also produced a guidance paper which provides some possible approaches to comparing across them.
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Is the population in the 15% most deprived datazones 15% of the population of Scotland?
Yes, because the datazones have roughly the same population, the population in the 15% most deprived areas is approximately 15% of the Scottish population, although this is subject to change as the populations of datazones will change over time (due to demolitions, new buildings, etc).
Datazones are based on 2001 census populations and are the static geographic unit in the SIMD methodology. It is anticipated that datazone boundaries will be reviewed in light of the 2011 population census results.
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How do I locate a datazone in SIMD and then find out information on its key indicators on the SNS website?
This information can be found by following the instructions on the guidance notes below.
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