Key facts and figures
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 data zones 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:
| North Ayrshire | 2004 | 2006 | 2009 | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | Change from 2004 to 2020 | Change from 2016 to 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Most deprived 0% to 5% | 6 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 12 | +6 | 0 |
| Most deprived 6% to 10% | 10 | 14 | 16 | 19 | 20 | 20 | +10 | 0 |
| Most deprived 11% to 15% | 17 | 10 | 17 | 15 | 19 | 20 | +3 | +1 |
| Most deprived 0% to 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:
| Most deprived 15% | 2004 | 2006 | 2009 | 2012 | 2016 | 2020 | Change from 2004 to 2020 | Change from 2016 to 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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.