NOTTINGHAM is now the 20th most deprived area in the country, according to new figures released by the Government.
The city has improved its ranking – falling seven places from being 13th most deprived in 2007, and seventh most deprived in 2004.
The scores are given after looking at a variety of factors including income and employment levels, education skills, health, disabilities and crime.
Councillor Graham Chapman, deputy leader of Nottingham City Council, welcomed the news.
He said: "For me it's probably one of the most important indicators for the whole city, we were seventh and now we're 20th. You can say it's all statistics but people will tell you they feel a lot better about the city then seven or eight years ago."
However, a spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said Nottingham may have improved in the rankings because other areas have become more deprived.
There are 327 areas which were ranked in the social deprivation index for the UK.
Liverpool was listed as the most deprived area in the country, Manchester was fourth and Birmingham took ninth place.
Nottingham was behind Newcastle, which is the 40th most deprived area, Sheffield is in 56th place and Leeds is in 68th.
Nigel Cooke, director of One Nottingham, a partnership working to improve life in the city, said: "These results show that we are making real progress in tackling poverty and deprivation.
"We've also seen great strides in our efforts to cut crime and antisocial behaviour – Notts Police in 2010 recorded their lowest crime levels for 30 years.
"Ongoing initiatives to get Nottingham people into good jobs will continue to pay off too. Schemes like Get Nottingham Working and our continued work to attract investment into the city, like the recently announced Local Enterprise Zone, will help us to achieve an ongoing decline in our deprivation levels.
"However, there's clearly plenty of room for improvement and it remains one of our key priorities to continue to work towards eradicating poverty and deprivation in Nottingham."
He said the city had made "excellent progress" in raising educational attainment with schools achieving their best ever GCSE and A Level results. However, the city has the lowest percentage of 19-year-olds with five or more GCSEs in the country.
Liberal democrat councillor Tony Sutton, who represents Wollaton East and Lenton Abbey ward, said: "Although we welcome that improvement, there's still nothing to be proud of, in fact we're rated the 20th most deprived in the country."
The figures were released by the Department of Communities and Local Government.
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