Geographic and economic facts and summary statistics for North Ayrshire. Facts and statistics presented are obtained from a number of sources.
Geographical coverage
North Ayrshire covers an area of around 886 sq.km (mainland 441 sq.km, islands 445sq.km) and has a coastline of 225km (mainland 67km, islands 158km).
The main settlements are Irvine, Kilwinning, Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenston, Beith, Dalry, Kilbirnie, Largs, Dreghorn, Springside, West Kilbride, Seamill, Fairlie, Skelmorlie, Brodick and Millport.
Demography
National Records of Scotland produce various council area demographic data.
View a profile for North Ayrshire.
Labour market
Information on the North Ayrshire labour market can be found on the NOMIS website.
Deprivation
The Scottish Government published the latest version of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (SIMD) on 28 January 2020. The SIMD uses a range of socio-economic data to calculate deprivation across small areas known as data zones. There are 6,976 datazones across Scotland each with an average population of around 750 people.
Of the 186 data zones in North Ayrshire 52 are in the 15% most deprived in Scotland, an increase of 1 since the index was last published in 2016. Breakdowns for the North Ayrshire data zones in the 5%, 10% and 15% most deprived in Scotland are shown in the table below:
Number of North Ayrshire datazones in most deprived 5%, 10% 10% and 15% (2004-2020)
| North Ayrshire | 2004 | 2006 | 2009 | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | Change 04-20 | Change 16-20 |
|---|
| Most deprived 0-5% |
6 |
9 |
10 |
12 |
12 |
12 |
+6 |
0 |
| Most deprived 6-10% |
10 |
14 |
16 |
19 |
20 |
20 |
+10 |
0 |
| Most deprived 11-15% |
17 |
10 |
17 |
15 |
19 |
20 |
+3 |
+1 |
| Most deprived 0-15% |
33 |
33 |
43 |
46 |
51 |
52 |
+19 |
+1 |
Source: Scottish Government 2020
Across North Ayrshire the 52 data zones in the 15% most deprived in Scotland are distributed as shown here:
Number of datazones in 15% most deprived in Scotland by North Ayrshire Locality Area (2004-2020)
| Most deprived 15% | 2004 | 2006 | 2009 | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | Change 04-20 | Change 16-20 |
|---|
| Irvine |
10 |
10 |
14 |
16 |
19 |
20 |
+10 |
+1 |
| Kilwinning |
6 |
4 |
6 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
| Three Towns |
15 |
16 |
19 |
19 |
18 |
17 |
+2 |
-1 |
| Garnock Valley |
2 |
3 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
7 |
+5 |
0 |
| North Coast |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
+2 |
+1 |
| Arran |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
Source: Scottish Government 2020
More information on deprivation statistics can be found on the Scottish Government website.