Western Mail Deprivation is not just a money issue

THE statisticians who produce the Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation do not want the areas that it highlights as having the biggest challenges in Wales being described as the nation's poorest.

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The index ranks some 1,917 small areas of Wales, each of which has around 1,600 residents, on a number of criteria designed to identify the communities and people who need the most help. The experts and politicians argue that it is about more than money.

Relative incomes only make up 22% of its weighting, followed by employment levels (20%), health problems (15%), levels of education (14%), access to services (10%), housing quality (9%) and, lastly, community safety and phys ical environment both accounting for 5% of the weighting.