THE most deprived areas of Northumberland have been revealed in the latest 2021 census results.
The figures come as part of a more detailed set of results from the snapshot of England and Wales captured in March last year.
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As part of the 2021 census, households in England and Wales were classified in terms of four different 'dimensions of deprivation', which are based on certain characteristics.
The first is where any member of a household, who is not a full-time student, is either unemployed or long-term sick, and the second covers households where no person has at least five or more GCSE passes or equivalent qualifications, and no 16 to 18-year-olds at the home are full-time students.
The third dimension is where any person in the household has general health that is 'bad' or 'very bad' or has a long-term health problem, and the fourth where the household's accommodation is either overcrowded or is in a shared dwelling, or has no central heating.
Office for National Statistics data show 51.5 per cent of households in Northumberland were deprived in at least one of these 'dimensions' when the most recent census was carried out.
It meant the area was largely in line with the average across England and Wales, of 51.7 per cent. It also represented a drop from 56.4 per cent at the time of the last census in 2011.
A further breakdown reveals which of the area's 38 neighbourhoods were most affected by deprivation last year.
In Northumberland, the five areas with the highest deprivation rates were:
Blyth Cowpen – 68.5 per cent of households here were deprived in at least one dimension at the time of the 2021 census, down from 75.2 per cent in 2011
Ashington Hirst – 64.9 per cent, falling from 70 per cent in 2011
Blyth Isabella – 64.8 per cent, a drop from 69.9 per cent in 2011
Newbiggin – 64.3 per cent, down from 68.3 per cent in 2011
Bedlington Station and Sleekburn – 59.2 per cent, down from 64.7 per cent in 2011
By contrast, the neighbourhood with the lowest level of deprivation was Longhorsley, Hepscott and Capheaton, at 36.2 per cent of households.
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