Which? report shows Northern Ireland one of the most financially distressed areas in UK

Consumer website, Which? has published a map showing the most financially distressed areas in the UK.

Which? asked site users to rank how financially stressed they were on a five point sliding scale.  The scale ran from low level financial stressors, like cutting back on essentials to signifiers of serious financial problems, such as defaulting on a loan, rent or mortgage.

The responses were assessed based on their geographic location and each location was given a score from 0-100, with the most financially distressed areas scoring 100.  Northern Ireland’s overall score was 88, behind only the North East of England (100).

West Belfast most financially distressed constituency in NI

Which? ranked the most distressed electoral constituencies and found that Belfast West was the 6th most stressed constituency in the whole of the UK with a score of 100. 

Two thirds of our Westminster constituencies scored above 70 on the index.  Of the other Westminster constituencies, only 2 scored below 50.  These were South Belfast (47) and North Down (28).

You can find out how financially stressed your local area is by visiting the Guardian’s website.