There are many ways in which poverty and deprivation can be measured. The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) brings together a number of these measures for a selection of geographical areas and formulates scores that indicate the extent of deprivation for each area. This Index is the official measure of poverty and deprivation in Wales. In 2005, the Office for National Statistics used “lower layer super output areas” as the units for geographical reporting; this saw Wales being divided into 1,896 geographical areas, each with an average population of 1,500. Carmarthenshire was divided into 112 LSOA’s and these can be viewed within the reports on the WIMD page.

The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation 2008 (WIMD) is the official measure of deprivation for small areas in Wales. It was developed for the Welsh Assembly Government by the Assembly’s Statistical Directorate and the Local Government Data Unit (Wales). It replaces the index which was produced in 2005.

Poverty is often measured by means of income and a household is categorised as being in poverty if the total annual household income is equal or less than 60% of the median household income in the UK.  The average household income for Carmarthenshire and the electoral wards within the County can be found on this page and has been calculated according to the data produced by CACI Ltd in their annual PayCheck dataset. PayCheck is a national dataset which provides an estimate of household income before tax deductions and includes income data from all sources, including benefit payments. Click here, or visit the “Household Income” page to access the average household income within Carmarmarthenshire.

Further information on the  Index is available from the Welsh Assembly Statistical Directorate, via the link:

www.wales.gov.uk/wimd

Click on the Poverty and Deprivation Topic paper on the left hand side of the page for more information on the definition of poverty.

Don’t forget to visit the Interactive Statistics Module for more County statistics.

If you have any queries, why not e-mail the Policy Co-ordination and Research team by clicking the logo at the top of the page, alternatively, click on the “Contact Us” button.