HOUSEHOLDS in St Helier are more likely to be ‘materially deprived’ than those in other parishes, according to information analysed by Statistics Jersey.
The Indicators of Deprivation report, published yesterday, used data from the 2021 and 2011 census to look at the topic and broke the results down by parish vingtaine .
According to the study, areas with higher proportions of characteristics such as overcrowding – when a household doesn’t have enough bedrooms for the number of occupants – are those more likely to be associated with material deprivation.
In 2021, around one-in-20 (5.5%) Islanders were living in households considered to be overcrowded, but the figure was much higher for those living in town.
Levels varied, from nobody living in overcrowded accommodation – in Vingtaine de la Croiserie in Trinity – to one-in-eight (12%) people living in Vingtaine de Bas du Mont au Prêtre, St Helier. The latter area, which along with Vingtaine du Rouge Bouillon forms St Helier Central, also had a higher proportion of individuals in private homes where the head of the household had a routine or manual occupation – meaning positions with a ‘basic labour contract’ in fields such as sales or service.
Additionally, three-in-four (76.3%) households in Canton de Bas de la Vingtaine de la Ville, in St Helier, were non-owner-occupied, compared to approximately one-in-seven (15%) households in Vingtaine de l’Eglise in St Martin.
Although the proportion of Islanders aged 16 to 64 with no educational qualifications last year (15.6%) had decreased since 2011 (22.4%), this figure was also higher in town. It varied from one-in-20 (6.3%) people living in Vingtaine de l’Eglise in St Martin, to one-in-four (25.5%) people in Vingtaine de Bas du Mont au Prêtre.
The report states: ‘The indicators describe characteristics of households that are known to be associated with material deprivation – some more directly than others – and therefore indicate the potential level of deprivation in a vingtaine.’
