Metadata detail: Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) 2025

Identification

Title

Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation (WIMD) 2025

Abstract

The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation user guide explains how to access and use the online maps.

Introduction

WIMD is the Welsh Government’s official measure of relative deprivation for small areas in Wales. It is designed to identify those small areas where there are the highest concentrations of several different types of deprivation.

Deprivation is the lack of access to opportunities and resources which we might expect in our society. This can be in terms of material goods or the ability of an individual to participate in the normal social life of the community.

WIMD - Domains

An Index is a group of separate measurements which are combined into a single number. WIMD is currently made up of eight separate domains (or types) of deprivation:

Income
Employment
Health
Education
Access to services
Housing
Community safety
Physical environment

Each of the domains include several indicators of deprivation. WIMD ranks all small areas in Wales from 1 (most deprived) to 1,917 (least deprived). It does not provide a measure of the level of deprivation in an area.

Deprivation groups

There is no definitive threshold above which an area is described as ‘deprived’. WIMD ranks are often grouped into deciles, quintiles or other groups for analysis purposes. Deciles split a set of data into 10 equal parts, and quintiles into 5. The first decile is the lowest 10% of values, the second decile is the next 10%, and so on. Deprivation groups used within this map are designed to have smaller groups at the more deprived end of the distribution, where the difference between areas is greater than at the less deprived end.

There is more guidance and technical information available on WIMD alongside the results.

Licence