More than a third of areas in Dundee are among the most deprived parts of Scotland, official figures show.
The worst-off area in Tayside and Fife is Buckhaven, Denbeath and Muiredge in the kingdom, which is just 17 miles away from St Andrews South West, one of the least deprived in the country, according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.
Whitfield in Dundee was found to be among a handful of areas nationally that had been consistently mired by serious deprivation since 2004.
One part of Dundee city centre was rated the 36th most deprived out of 6,976 small “data zones” in the country in the data published on Wednesday.
In the last SIMD study in 2012 the most deprived city centre area in Dundee came 338th.
Kevin Keenan, a Dundee councillor for Scottish Labour, laid the blame with the SNP Government for failing to support jobs in the City of Discovery.
“The Scottish Government has a lot to answer for,” he said.
“Dundee was crying out for jobs and inward investment even before we had these losses over the summer.
“Encouraging investment is the way tackle deprivation and the Scottish Government should take responsibility.
“We still haven’t had those renewables jobs that Alex Salmond promised Dundee.”
The Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation ranked zones by how badly residents fared for income, employment, education, health, housing and access to services.
Some 37% of Dundee zones were in the most deprived 20% of areas nationally, the figures showed.
That made the city the fifth worst among the country’s 32 local authority areas.
Fife was in the top half, while Perth and Kinross and Angus fared better in the bottom third.
Communities Secretary Angela Constance said the figures are reminder that Scotland needs a government “committed to tackling deep seated deprivation, poverty and inequalities”.
“This will not be an easy job while we do not have the full levers of power, but I am determined we take on the challenge of making a generational change for those areas that have been in poverty for too long,” she said.
“In the face of continuing UK Government welfare cuts, an austerity agenda and attempts to take Scotland out of Europe, this will continue to be a long-term challenge.”
She added they are spending £100m to protect people against welfare cuts and are drawing up a strategy to end child poverty.
A Dundee City Council spokeswoman said: “The fact that the index has shown a small decrease in deprivation in Dundee in the face of the worst recession of recent years, widespread austerity measures, wage freezes and welfare reform is a sign that things are beginning to turn round.”
She added an “ambitious action plan” is to be published in November as part of efforts by the council and its partners to “support people to maximise their incomes, create jobs at the waterfront and on other major projects and to help people into employment”.
