English abstract
In recent decades indicators and statistical methods have been developed to measure the levels of multiple deprivations in economic and social aspects. The aim is to identify the geographical areas which suffer from deprivation in some of these aspects, in order to know their developmental needs, and then to focus the support and development processes there. The most important indices that have evolved in this context are; the Jarman index, also known as the «Underprivileged Area Score», the «Townsend deprivation index», and the «Carstairs deprivation Index». Since the 1980s, the Carstairs deprivation index has become well-known, especially after it was used - with some modification - in the measurement of indices of deprivation in the countries of the United Kingdom by the «Social Disadvantages Research Center-SDRS» at the University of Oxford. This study aims to measure the levels of deprivation in the Sultanate of Oman using the Carstairs index, to discover the more and less deprived wilayates in the seven domains reflecting the social and economic status of the population, namely: education, skills, employment, health, housing, living environment, facilities and household appliances. These domains include fourteen variables, with data derived from the population census of Oman in 2010. The Carstairs index was calculated separately for every domain, which made it possible to determine the wilayats that are suffering from deprivation in these domains. Through the compilation of the Carstairs index values for all domains, it was possible to calculate the «Index of multiple deprivation in Oman». The results show that the most disadvantaged wilayats, according to this index are: Al Mazyounah, Mahawt, Ad Duqm, Al Jazer, Hayma, Shalim Wa Juzor Al Hallaniyat, Rakhyut, Dalkut, all of which are located in the Governorates of Al Wusta and Dhofar.
