40% of city are poor

The shocking figures show that there are 41,487 people in the Londonderry district experiencing income deprivation and a total of 11,884 people in the area experiencing employment deprivation.

“Both the income and employment deprivation can be presented as rates of the relevant population. 38 per cent of the population have been identified as income deprived while 18 per cent of the population are identified as employment deprived.

“This can be compared to Northern Ireland as a whole where 25 per cent were identified as being income deprived and 13 per cent identified as being employment deprived,” the report states.

The report also shows that the Londonderry area had the highest amount of dole claimants in Northern Ireland over the past two years.

The rate of economic activity in the city was also well below the NI figure - 67.2 per cent compared to 70.9 per cent. whilst the percentage of adults with no formal qualifications was also significantly higher than the average across the province.

Equally, forty-three per cent of the population of Londonderry live in the most deprived areas in Northern Ireland.

And thirty-six per cent of families in Londonderry have children living in poverty - compared to 21 per cent for UK Council areas.

Indeed, the three council areas in the North West have amongst the highest child poverty levels in the whole of NI with the exception of Belfast (35 per cent).