council deep-dive · experimental
West Lothian
Council area S12000040 · Health board NHS Lothian
A council-area deep-dive: West Lothian's published local indicators set against the Scottish picture. This is an exploratory profile, not a scored composite, council data is partial and mixes rates, counts and vintages.
Not a scored composite
This is an exploratory profile of 15 cited indicators across 5 themes, set against the Scottish picture, it is deliberately not scored. West Lothian’s available council data is partial and mixes rates, counts and vintages, so a single resilience score would mislead. The headline British Resilience Index figures (national score and bands) are produced separately and are not affected by anything on this page.
Theme
Population health
Drug-misuse deaths
Scotland 23.6
Age-standardised 5-yr rate; West Lothian sits below the Scottish rate.
Alcohol-specific deaths
Count (NRS publishes no council per-100k rate in narrative); 43 in 2023. Scotland 20.9 per 100,000.
Probable suicides
Count; small-area and volatile (30 in 2021, 18 in 2022). Scotland 12.7 per 100,000 (2024).
Life expectancy at birth
Scotland ≈76.5 M · 80.7 F
3-year aggregate; the latest 2022–24 values weren't cleanly extractable from the NRS interactive profile.
Population
+1.2% on 2023, among Scotland's faster-growing councils (Scotland +0.7%).
Theme
Living standards
Fuel poverty
Scotland 24
Among the 5 lowest LAs; LA-level data lags the national headline (Scotland 34% in 2023).
Most-deprived datazones
Of ~239 WL datazones (~15.5%, below the 20% national share); the 15%-most-deprived count rose +6 since 2016.
Median house price
Scotland £187,000
+2.7% year-on-year; above the Scottish average, an affordability pressure for buyers.
Theme
Work
Employment rate (16–64)
Scotland 74.7
Broadly level with Scotland.
Claimant-count unemployment
Scotland 3.1
0.4pp below Scotland, 1.4pp below the UK.
Theme
Childhood & social floor
Children in relative poverty (AHC)
Scotland 14.8
About 4,736 children, just below the Scottish rate on the DWP local measure.
School leavers to positive destinations
Scotland 95.7
Level with the national average.
Theme
Housing
Homelessness applications
Down from 1,468 in 2019/20, falling locally against the rising national trend.
Temporary-accommodation placements
Placements over the year (not a point-in-time snapshot); rising.
Social-housing waiting list
+41% over five years, a record high.
The picture
What the indicators show
West Lothian is below the Scottish average on drug deaths, fuel poverty and unemployment, but child poverty is slightly above the national rate and housing pressure is rising to a record 11,269 on the social-housing list, up 41% in five years. Read these as a profile of one council area, not a ranked or scored verdict.
Caveats & data notes
How to read this profile
- Experimental council deep-dive, a profile of indicators, not a scored composite (West Lothian's data is partial and mixes rates, counts and vintages).
- Vital statistics (deaths, life expectancy) are small-area, multi-year aggregates.
- Health-service measures (NHS waits) are published by health board (NHS Lothian), not council, so they are not shown here.
- Indicators span different vintages (fuel poverty 2017–19; drug deaths 2019–23; poverty 2024/25).
- Recorded crime and LGBF service indicators are omitted, no clean primary council figure was available.
Every figure on this page traces to its official source. Share it as it stands.
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