9th January 2014 - New report - Identifying "deprived individuals": are there better alternatives to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) for socioeconomic targeting in individually based programmes addressing health inequalities in Scotland?

The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) is widely used in Scotland to identify small area concentrations of material deprivation. It has also been used to identify individuals eligible for health promotion campaigns. However its use for this purpose has been criticised because as an area based measure it does not perform well in identifying materially deprived individuals. This limitation is particularly apparent in rural areas where populations are often heterogeneous. This paper explores possible alternatives to the SIMD for programme targeting. It concludes that while there are no obviously better options, some approaches might be worth exploring further.

See the report's publication page for further details and to download the report.