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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
National
Annie Gouk & Nick Tyrrell

Merseyside areas where children are most likely to be in poverty

The Merseyside neighbourhood where children are most likely to grow up in poverty has been revealed.

Recently published government rankings show levels of child poverty across the country.

And areas in Liverpool city centre, Kirkby and Walton are among the most deprived in the country.

The area near Moorfields train station emerges as the most deprived out of any of the 32,844 neighbourhoods in England - however it is not a highly residential area.

An estimated 50 of the 77 children there are living in poverty.

Two areas of Northwood in Kirkby also feature high up the list, with one of them estimated to have 345 children living in poverty and the other having 270 kids in the same position.

Political figures have spoken out about the levels of poverty facing our region's children, with metro mayor Steve Rotheram calling it a "scourge" earlier this year.

Metro mayor Rotheram said: “During a decade-long programme of cuts we have seen child poverty rise year-on-year. This is betraying a generation of young people and we cannot allow this level of want to become normalised."

Merseyside has some of the highest levels of child poverty in the UK. (Brian Lawless/PA Wire)

The new figures rank individual neighbourhoods - small areas with a population of around 1,500 people each - based on how many children aged zero to 15 are living in income deprived families.

They include children in families on Income Support, Jobseeker’s Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance, Pension Credit, certain types of Universal Credit, and some other benefits.

The figures come from the Index of Multiple Deprivation - the official measure of relative deprivation in England.

Neighbourhoods that fall into the top 10% of the country for child poverty can be defined as being particularly affected.

Some 42% of neighbourhoods in the city fall into this category.

That compares to 45% in Knowsley, 25% in St Helens, 23% in Wirral and 16% in Sefton.

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