The Townsend Index of deprivation is an area based score used in the United Kingdom. It is based on 4 pieces of information collected from every household every 10 years. The score is based on comparing each small area (about 3,000 people) with the national average for the percentage of houses with access to a car, the percentage which are owned rather than rented (most people own their homes in the United Kingdom),the percentage of people unemployed, and the percentage of houses which are deemed to be overcrowded (more than one person per room). High scores indicate deprived areas and low scores (below zero ) indicate affluent areas - the national average score is zero.