Town top for proportion of highly deprived areas

MIDDLESBROUGH has the greatest proportion of highly deprived neighbourhoods out of all local authorities in England.

- By DANIEL HODGSON

Andy McDonald, Labour MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby East

In a 2025 measure, 50% of Middlesbrough’s neighbourhoods have been recorded as highly deprived, meaning it takes the unwanted top position out of 296 council areas.

Across England, 10% of neighbourhoods are highly deprived.

In Middlesbrough, there is a fairly even split between the more deprived northern half of the town and the more affluent south, with noticeable exceptions, including seriously deprived areas in Hemlington.

The middle of the town also sees more affluent areas in Acklam and Linthorpe neighbouring more deprived areas such as parts of Beechwood and Marton Grove.

For an area to be considered highly deprived it needs to be among the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in Britain.

The government report updates 2019 indices of multiple deprivation (IMD) figures, making it accurate for 2025.

Middlesbrough Council's local authority area has been divided up into 90 different areas as part of the measure and 45 of these neighbourhoods are highly deprived - the same number as was the case in 2019.

The North East is the region hardest hit by high levels of deprivation, with 21.5% of its neighbourhoods measured as highly deprived, compared to only 3.3% in the South East.