Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation


The Scottish index of multiple deprivation is a statistical tool used by local authorities, the Scottish government, the NHS and other government bodies in Scotland to support policy and decision making. It won the Royal Statistical Society's Excellence in Official Statistics Awards in 2017.
The 2016 release, known as SIMD16, was issued in August of that year and replaced the 2012 dataset.
The Scottish index of multiple deprivation measures across seven domains: current income, employment, health, education, skills and training, housing, geographic access and crime. These seven domains are calculated and weighted for 6,976 small areas, called ‘data zones’, with roughly equal population. With the population total at 5,3 million that comes to an average population of 760 people per data zone.
DomainExplanationWeight
Employment
  • Percentage of people who are income deprived and receive certain benefits or tax credits
12
Income
  • Percentage of working age people who are employment deprived and receive certain benefits
    		• 12
    Health
  • Comparative Illness Factor: standardised ratio
  • Hospital stays related to alcohol misuse: standardised ratio
  • Hospital stays related to drug misuse: standardised ratio
  • Standardised mortality ratio
  • Emergency stays in hospital: standardised ratio
  • Proportion of population being prescribed drugs for anxiety, depression or psychosis
  • Proportion of live singleton births of low birth weight
    		• 6
    Crime
  • Recorded crimes of violence, sexual offences, domestic housebreaking, vandalism, drugs offences, and common assault per 10,000 people
    		• 2
    Housing
  • Percentage of people living in households that are overcrowded
  • Percentage of people living in households with no central heating
    		• 1
    Education
  • School pupil attendance
  • Attainment of school leavers
  • Working age people with no qualifications: standardised ratio
  • Proportion of people aged 16–19 not in full-time education, employment or training
  • Proportion of 17-21 year olds entering into full-time higher education
    		• 6
    Access
  • Average drive time to a petrol station, a GP surgery, a post office, a primary school, a secondary school, a retail centre
  • Public transport travel time to a GP surgery, a post office, a retail centre
    		• 4
    The principle behind the index is to target government action in the areas which need it most.