Wolverhampton, Walsall and Sandwell are among the most deprived areas of the country - here's why
Five out of 10 of the most deprived areas in the country are in the West Midlands, according to new figures.
New data released by the Office of National Statistics found that Sandwell was the second most deprived area in the country, beaten only by Leicester.
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Wolverhampton, Walsall, Stoke-on-Trent and Birmingham also ranked in the top 10.
By contrast, the 10 wealthiest local authority areas were all in the south east.
The figures are based on average household disposable income, which found that the average household in Sandwell had just £16,562 a year left over to live on once essential bills such as housing, council tax and energy costs were taken into account.
The figure was a fifth of the wealthiest area of the country, Westminster and the City of London, where the average household had £79,555 a year to live on once the bills were taken care of.
Leicester, which won the dubious honour of being Britain's most deprived city, fared slightly worse with a disposable income of £16,067.
Nottingham was the third poorest area, with a disposable income of £16,823.
Hull and Blackburn with Darwen took fourth and fifth place respectively, while Stoke was the sixth poorest area of the county with a disposable income of £17,626. The city's stock of cold Victorian housing was blamed for it having the highest rate of fuel poverty in the country, with almost a quarter of residents struggling to heat their homes.
Wolverhampton took eighth spot, being marginally better off than Bradford with a disposable income of £18,174 a year. The figures showed that 27.2 per cent of working age residents were out of work, with long-term sickness a major cause of poverty.
The people of Walsall were just £25 a year better off on £18,199, with a lack of high-paid work and health inequalities highlighted as major problems. There was also a low rate of personal investment and pension provision, making life difficult in old age.
Birmingham was the 10th poorest area in the country, with an average disposable income of just £18,312 a year. A shortage of high earners, large households and a young population with a high level of students were all cited as depressing the figure.
Elsewhere in the region, Lichfield was found to be the most affluent area, with an average gross disposable household income of £26,610 a year, followed by South Staffordshire on £25,399 and Stafford on £24,013.
Shropshire households were left over with £23,824 once the bills were taken care of, while in Wyre Forest the figure was £22,201. In Telford and Wrekin, disposable income was £20,279, in Cannock Chase it was £20,117, while in Dudley it was £19,238.
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