Exploring the geographical distribution of wealth using the output area classification

Abstract

The results of the first wave of the Wealth and Assets Survey were published in the report, ĝ€ Wealth in Great Britainĝ€ ™ in December 2009 with datasets released in March 2010. However, apart from the presentation of the aggregate results on a Government Office Region basis, no more disaggregated geographical analysis of the data has so far been carried out, not least because of the potential disclosivity of the data when presented for low level geographies. This paper aims to provide an understanding of the geographical distribution of wealth and its components by areas with common socio-economic and demographic characteristics from relatively high to low levels of aggregation while overcoming the disclosivity problem. This is achieved by using the Output Area Classification (OAC) groupings, based on the 2001 Census.