Can a deprivation index be used legitimately over both urban and rural areas?

Table 1 Census-derived variables contributing to the four deprivation indices under study

Variables	Townsend	Carstairs	Havard	Rey
Unemployment rate	X	X	X	X
Proportion of unemployed people > 1 y			X
Proportion of households without a car	X	X	X
Proportions of households with ≥ 2 cars			X
Primary residences with > 1 person/room	X	X	X
Mean number of people/room			X
Blue-collar workers in the labour force		X	X	X
People ≥ 15 years old with only elementary education			X
People ≥ 15 years old with at least high-school diploma			X	X
People ≥ 15 years old with university graduation			X
People with permanent work contracts			X
People with non-permanent work contracts			X
Households owners of their primary residence	X		X
Subsidised housing among primary residences			X
Primary residences that are houses or farms			X
Primary residences that are multiple-dwelling units			X
Single-parent families			X
Foreigners in total population			X
Median income per consumption unit or household			X	X

ISSN: 1476-072X