Postcode lottery of life
How your prospects at 18 depend on where you are born
NO matter who you are, where you live is now the key to your chance of a successful life.
The likelihood of a teenager getting a full-time job or going to a leading university varies dramatically according to his or her postcode, a study has proved.
So does the chance of being unemployed and not taking up studying or training.
University researchers analysed a mountain of social data to give youngsters a glimpse into the future.
By visiting the website www.comparefutures.org and typing in their postcode, they can discover what they are statistically most likely to be doing at the age of 18.
The best places to live in terms of prospects include the most affluent boroughs of London and middle-class areas of Kent and Essex.
The worst include deprived inner city areas of Liverpool, Birmingham, London, Hull and the North East.
The research was commissioned by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies and carried out by the universities of Sheffield and Brighton.
Richard Garside, director of the centre, said: ‘We are taught that life is what you make it, that the able will succeed regardless of background. But the site shows that where you are born and where you grow up has a huge influence on where you end up.’
Commenting on the results, Professor Danny Dorling of Sheffield University said: ‘There are huge inequalities between young people’s life chances that depend on where they are born, and these inequalities are increasing.’
Kensington in west London came top in the table of 18-yearolds most likely to go to a Russell Group university, with 30 per cent ending up in one of the elite institutions.
At the other end of the scale, in John Prescott’s former constituency of Hull East only 0.05 per cent of 18-year-olds manage a place at the top end of academic life.
The chances of the best education are similarly slim in several areas of Liverpool, Birmingham and Sheffield. The website allows comparisons to be made between areas around the country, which throws up some interesting results.
For example young people in the Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate are seven times more likely to go to an elite university than their counterparts in Bradford, only 20 miles away.
Annika Small, chief executive of the Nominet Trust, which sponsored the website, said: ‘It proves what we’ve known for a long time – the postcode lottery is not a myth but in fact a harsh and very bleak reality for young people.
‘We would urge policy-makers, youth workers, and other professionals working with young people to take note of the fact that our current system is failing today’s youth, and that a fresh approach is required.’