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The majority of people providing ‘informal’ unpaid care live in areas with higher than average levels of deprivation and long-term illness, new figures released today show, writes Maria Ahmed.

Carers in deprived areas were also more likely to be in poor health, according to a geographical study of unpaid care published by the government office for national statistics.

The study on the proportion of the population providing informal care for 20 hours or more a week shows the highest number of unpaid carers were likely to be found in Wales and the north of England, and the lowest in the south of England.

Local authorities with the highest number of unpaid carers included Neath Port Talbot, Merthyr Tydfil in Wales, Easington in Durham, and the London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Newham and Tower Hamlets.

Unpaid carers were also twice as likely to be from Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities than from white ethnic groups.

The study by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and the London School of Economics was based on evidence from the 2001 Census.

www.statistics.gov.uk