MORE THAN one in eight families in West Fife are still living in poverty, according to shock new statistics.

A damning report by Audit Scotland revealed that 13.9 per cent of the Dunfermline and West Fife health partnership area are living below the breadline.

The results put West Fife roughly on a par with the Scottish average for poverty, with the area listed as the 18th most deprived in Scotland out of 38.

Audit Scotland's report was followed by mixed results for Fife released by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2012 (SIMD).

These highlighted levels of deprivation in the area but showed a slight improvement in Fife on income, housing and crime deprivation in the past three years.

Fife Council said they were disappointed that the area continued to have "deep-rooted, persistent levels of deprivation".

Depute council leader David Ross commented, "No-one likes to have their community labelled as 'deprived' but there is unacceptable poverty and inequality in Fife and there are communities and individuals that are more disadvantaged than others.

"We will use the information in this report, along with the local knowledge we have, to make sure our policies and resources are targeted at where they are needed most." The SIMD report split Fife into 453 geographical areas and used seven indicators of deprivation to measure its overall state.

The report showed that Fife's level of income deprivation at 13.3 per cent was marginally below the Scottish average of 13.4 per cent.

The greatest improvement came in crime deprivation: 5.5 per cent of the most deprived data zones in Scotland were in Fife, down from 7.1 per cent in 2009 and 9.5 per cent in 2006.

Life expectancies in Dunfermline and West Fife saw a slight increase to 75.5 years for men and 79.5 years for women but these are still well below the UK average of 78.1 and 82.1.