Four West Midlands areas named in the top 20 deprived parts of England
High Street, West Bromwich in the borough of Sandwell.
A number of towns and cities in the Midlands are ranked among the most deprived in England.
These areas were towards the top of the national deprivation list, where daily life is often a struggle for many households.
It means on average, more people living in these places are poorer and find it harder to put food on the table and keep their heads above water each month.
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Birmingham, Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Walsall are all in the top 20 for most deprived parts of England, according to a recent ONS study.
Here, more than one in five people are classed as income-deprived.
It’s a list dominated by parts of the West Midlands and north of England.
This can include areas with high levels of unemployment, as well as low earnings.
Areas like Birmingham and Sandwell often appear on these lists and have longstanding issues with deprivation and child poverty.
The list was based on the proportion of residents who suffer income deprivation, meaning they experience hardship because of a lack of money.
Birmingham was 7th on the list, followed by Sandwell in 9th, Wolverhampton in 11th and Walsall in 16th.
The national list included 316 local authority areas, highlighting just how tough the worst-off have it in these parts of the West Midlands.
The ONS says: “Economic inequalities are not just regional – but can occur between neighbourhoods too.
“This (study) looks at levels of income deprivation, which is based on the proportion of people in an area who are out of work or on low earnings.
They continued: “In more income-deprived profiles, areas have neighbourhoods towards the deprived end of the scale.
“Areas matching this profile are mostly urban areas, including in Greater London, around Birmingham, and in the north east.”
“In Birmingham, 22.2% of the population was income-deprived in 2019.
“Of the 316 local authorities in England (excluding the Isles of Scilly), Birmingham is ranked 7th most income-deprived.”
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