Inner-city deprivation falls by almost a fifth since 2010, led by Manchester, Liverpool and London, says Centre for Cities

• Inner-city Manchester sees 17 percentage point decline in share of neighbourhoods experiencing deprivation since 2010
• London, Liverpool and other big cities contribute to fall in urban deprivation in the UK
• Back metro mayors to widen access to jobs, Centre for Cities says

Manchester saw the largest decline in inner-city deprivation of any city in the UK since 2010, reducing its share of deprived inner-city neighbourhoods by 17 percentage points, according to new Centre for Cities analysis.

Nationally, the share of deprived inner-city neighbourhoods has fallen significantly since 2010, driven by changes in big cities – such as Manchester, Liverpool and London – and in spite of the persistence of urban deprivation elsewhere.

The proportion of all inner-city neighbourhoods ranking among the 20 per cent most deprived in the UK fell by seven percentage points from 38 to 31 per cent between 2010-2025. Across all urban areas, the share of highly-deprived neighbourhoods fell slightly from 28 to 27 per cent in that time.

Centre for Cities' report, ‘Uneven cities: The geography of deprivation in urban Britain', shows the role big cities have played in reducing deprivation:

• Liverpool saw the largest overall decrease in deprivation out of any city in the UK: across Liverpool's whole urban area, 53.7 per cent of neighbourhoods ranked in the UK's most deprived neighbourhoods in 2025, a 10.6 percentage point decline from 64.4 per cent in 2010. Inner-city Liverpool also saw a 12.2 per cent decline in deprivation.
• Inner-city Manchester saw the largest inner-city decline in deprivation anywhere in the UK: 58.4 per cent of neighbourhoods in and around the city centre ranked among the most deprived in 2025, down from 75.7 per cent in 2010 – a fall of 17.3 percentage points.
• London made the biggest overall contribution to reducing inner-city deprivation, owing to the capital's scale. The share of inner London neighbourhoods ranked in the UK's most deprived fell by 14 percentage points from 36.1 per cent to 22.1 per cent by 2025. Across the entire capital, the share of highly-deprived neighbourhoods fell from 23.1 per cent to 16.1 per cent.
• Other large cities saw decreases in their share of inner-city neighbourhoods that rank in the UK's most deprived, including Birmingham (-3.7 pp) and Bristol (-2.3 pp).
• In parts of urban Britain, deprivation rates rose. Seven out of the ten cities and towns with the largest increases in deprivation rates across their whole urban area were in the North and Midlands – including Derby (+10.3 pp) and Sunderland (+8.7 pp).

Deprivation in the UK remains concentrated in cities: roughly two-thirds of all the UK's most deprived neighbourhoods are in urban areas. In most cities and large towns, there was little change in deprivation rates.

Andrew Carter, Chief Executive of Centre for Cities, says:

“The Government's Industrial Strategy and its Northern Growth Strategy rightly give large cities a driving role in improving living standards across the country. The shifts in Manchester, Liverpool and London are nationally noteworthy and suggest a big cities-focused approach is a reliable way to improve living standards across the UK.

“Most large towns and cities saw deprivation persist or slightly rise, and this only underlines how much we need to learn from the improvements in Liverpool, Manchester and London.

“The challenge now is to build on the progress made since 2010. England's large cities now have metro mayors to champion their local economies, with the power to expand public transport connectivity to central areas, and build homes in well-connected locations – widening access to good jobs and opportunities across their regions, and delivering change that people feel.

“Government needs to continue to back mayors to deliver and ensure their plans for fiscal devolution reward metro mayors for the steps they take to boost local growth.”

ENDS

Notes

1. Centre for Cities is the leading independent think tank dedicated to improving the economies of the UK's largest cities and towns. It is a charity that works with local authorities, business and Whitehall to develop and implement policy that supports the performance of urban economies. It does this through impartial research and knowledge exchange. For more information, visit https://www.centreforcities.org/about/
2. ‘Uneven cities: The geography of deprivation in urban Britain' will be published at 00.01am on Thursday 21 May, at the following URL:
   https://www.centreforcities.org/publication/uneven-cities-the-geography-of-deprivation-in-urban-britain
3. Data and methodology: To ensure consistent comparisons between places for this report:

• Cities are defined by their ‘Primary Urban Area' geography.
• ‘Inner-city' areas are defined by the ‘urban core' geography: the neighbourhoods within a certain radius – depending on the city's size – from the city centre.
• Neighbourhoods are defined by ‘lower super output areas' (LSOAs) in England and Wales; ‘data zones' in Scotland, and ‘super output areas' and ‘small areas' in Northern Ireland in 2010 and 2017 respectively.
• Data sources are: Index of Multiple Deprivation in England, 2010 and 2025; Northern Ireland Multiple Deprivation Measure, 2010 and 2017; Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation in 2009 and 2020, and Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation in 2011 and 2025.
• This briefing measures change over time by the share of a city's neighbourhoods falling into each deprivation category, rather than tracking individual neighbourhoods. Data collection methodology and some LSOA boundaries change slightly between data releases.