Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2019-22
A Scottish Government National Statistics publication
Published on 23 March 2023
This report presents three-year averaged estimates of the proportion of people, children, working-age adults and pensioners in Scotland living in poverty, and other statistics on household income and income inequality. These estimates are used to monitor progress in reducing poverty, child poverty and income inequality.
The latest estimates are from the period between April 2019 and March 2022. Data collected in the middle of this three-year period (April 2020 - March 2021) was removed due to data quality issues related to the pandemic.
Key trends
- Child poverty appears stable after a recent gradual rise.
- Working-age and pensioner poverty largely stable.
Longer-term trends of poverty and income inequality in the UK, which are similar to those in Scotland, are available from the Department for Work and Pensions’ Households Below Average Income publication.
What you need to know
Statistics in this report are based on data from the Family Resources Survey. This survey has been the main source of information on household income and poverty in Scotland since 1994/95.
Poverty measures
The Scottish Government measures different aspects of poverty with different indicators. The most commonly used poverty indicator in Scotland for showing trends is relative poverty after housing costs. Other poverty measures in this report are absolute poverty, material deprivation, and degrees of household food security. These are included in additional charts throughout the report.
Unless otherwise stated, these statistics are based on net income and adjusted for household size. Net income is income from earnings, social security payments and other sources minus taxes. All incomes are in 2021/22 prices, so the purchasing power is comparable over time. Estimates in this publication are rounded to the nearest £1 for weekly incomes, £100 for annual incomes, 1% for proportions and ratios, and 10,000 for populations. Poverty is defined at the household level. If the household income is below the poverty threshold, all people within the household are in poverty.
Survey data
The estimates in this publication are based on a sample survey and are therefore subject to sampling variation.
For example, the child poverty rates for Scotland in the latest period can vary within a typical uncertainty range of plus or minus seven percentage points, or plus or minus 80,000 children. This means that the proportion of children in relative poverty is likely to be somewhere between 16% and 31%. And the number of children in relative poverty after housing costs is likely to be somewhere between 160,000 and 310,000 children. Poverty rates and numbers shown in this report give the central estimates only.
For some of the key estimates, you can find the ranges in the measurement uncertainty section. To show this in the poverty charts, you can now also add indicative confidence intervals around the trendlines.
Add confidence intervals by clicking on the greyed-out parts of the legend.
None of the latest changes in the estimated poverty rates in the Poverty and Child poverty sections of this report are statistically significant. It is therefore better to look at longer-term trends to confirm that a change over time is real, or that differences between groups are consistent.
Three-year averages
The poverty and income estimates are shown as three-year rolling (overlapping) averages, unless stated otherwise. Taking the average over three years reduces fluctuation due to sampling variation and shows trends and differences between groups more clearly.
Some single-year estimates are also available in the associated tables.
Impact of the pandemic
The coronavirus pandemic severely disrupted the data collection in 2020/21. As a result, we were unable to obtain a representative sample for Scotland in that year.
The 2021/22 data is considered to be representative of the Scottish population.
This means that the three-year periods 2018-21 and 2019-22 only contain data from two financial years each. Therefore, some real changes that happened to incomes, such as the furlough scheme or the temporary increase of Universal Credit are only partially captured in the time series.
Due to the missing data year and the ongoing impact of the pandemic on survey response rates, the sample size is much reduced in the latest two periods. This means that data is more volatile, and sudden changes need to be interpreted with caution.
More information about the impact of the pandemic on data collection and the data itself is available in DWP’s HBAI Technical report.
All people
The most commonly used poverty indicator in Scotland is relative poverty after housing costs. Alongside this key indicator, we also report on other poverty measures, focusing on different aspects of poverty.
Relative poverty
Measure | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
After housing costs | 24% | 23% | 23% | 23% | 24% | 24% | 23% | 22% | 21% | 20% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 19% | 20% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 21% |
Before housing costs | 21% | 21% | 21% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 19% | 18% | 18% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 16% | 15% | 15% | 14% | 15% | 15% | 16% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 19% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All people | 8,299 | 8,105 | 7,698 | 7,579 | 7,626 | 8,095 | 11,023 | 14,003 | 16,458 | 16,157 | 15,337 | 15,092 | 14,739 | 14,686 | 14,442 | 13,385 | 12,152 | 10,750 | 10,277 | 9,795 | 9,596 | 9,369 | 9,521 | 9,346 | 6,239 | 5,061 |
Absolute poverty
Measure | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
After housing costs | 39% | 38% | 35% | 33% | 31% | 29% | 27% | 24% | 22% | 21% | 20% | 19% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 17% | 18% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 17% |
Before housing costs | 37% | 35% | 33% | 31% | 30% | 28% | 25% | 23% | 21% | 19% | 18% | 18% | 17% | 17% | 16% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 14% | 15% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 15% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All people | 8,299 | 8,105 | 7,698 | 7,579 | 7,626 | 8,095 | 11,023 | 14,003 | 16,458 | 16,157 | 15,337 | 15,092 | 14,739 | 14,686 | 14,442 | 13,385 | 12,152 | 10,750 | 10,277 | 9,795 | 9,596 | 9,369 | 9,521 | 9,346 | 6,239 | 5,061 |
Food security
Group | High | Marginal | Low | Very low |
---|---|---|---|---|
All people | 86% | 6% | 4% | 4% |
In relative poverty | 65% | 13% | 11% | 11% |
In severe poverty | 65% | 12% | 11% | 13% |
Group | Sample |
---|---|
All people | 5,019 |
In relative poverty | 1,026 |
In severe poverty | 739 |
Food security tables are now available for a range of household types and equality characteristics in the associated tables. They show, for example, that the older the household, the more food secure it is.
Children
Children are more likely to be in poverty across all measures compared to adults.
The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 requires us to report every year on four different child poverty measures. The latest single-year estimates can be found in the Child poverty summary. In this report, however, we show three-year averaged estimates only, which are better for seeing trends.
In this publication, 'child' refers to a dependent child. This is explained in the Definitions section.
Relative poverty
Measure | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
After housing costs | 32% | 32% | 32% | 31% | 31% | 31% | 30% | 28% | 26% | 25% | 25% | 24% | 25% | 24% | 24% | 21% | 21% | 21% | 22% | 23% | 23% | 24% | 23% | 24% | 25% | 24% |
Before housing costs | 29% | 29% | 30% | 29% | 27% | 27% | 26% | 25% | 23% | 22% | 21% | 20% | 21% | 20% | 19% | 17% | 17% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 18% | 20% | 20% | 21% | 20% | 22% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Children | 2,277 | 2,168 | 1,980 | 1,921 | 1,858 | 1,967 | 2,708 | 3,414 | 3,963 | 3,771 | 3,543 | 3,498 | 3,443 | 3,417 | 3,364 | 3,103 | 2,851 | 2,504 | 2,386 | 2,174 | 2,122 | 1,974 | 2,031 | 1,947 | 1,326 | 1,000 |
Working poverty
Having paid work is an effective way out of poverty, and those families where all adults are in full-time work have a low poverty risk. But having a job is not always enough, for example when it does not pay well, or when someone is unable to work enough hours.
Group | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
In workless households | 53% | 56% | 55% | 53% | 51% | 52% | 54% | 52% | 50% | 49% | 50% | 51% | 49% | 49% | 46% | 45% | 41% | 36% | 34% | 34% | 35% | 32% | 32% | 31% |
In working households | 47% | 44% | 45% | 47% | 49% | 48% | 46% | 48% | 50% | 51% | 50% | 49% | 51% | 51% | 54% | 55% | 59% | 64% | 66% | 66% | 65% | 68% | 68% | 69% |
Group | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Children | 1,980 | 1,921 | 1,858 | 1,967 | 2,708 | 3,414 | 3,963 | 3,771 | 3,543 | 3,498 | 3,443 | 3,417 | 3,364 | 3,103 | 2,851 | 2,504 | 2,386 | 2,174 | 2,122 | 1,974 | 2,031 | 1,947 | 1,326 | 1,000 |
Absolute poverty
Measure | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
After housing costs | 50% | 49% | 46% | 43% | 40% | 38% | 34% | 31% | 27% | 26% | 25% | 24% | 24% | 24% | 23% | 22% | 22% | 22% | 22% | 22% | 21% | 22% | 21% | 21% | 21% | 21% |
Before housing costs | 46% | 46% | 43% | 40% | 38% | 36% | 33% | 29% | 25% | 23% | 22% | 21% | 20% | 20% | 19% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 16% | 15% | 15% | 17% | 16% | 17% | 16% | 18% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Children | 2,277 | 2,168 | 1,980 | 1,921 | 1,858 | 1,967 | 2,708 | 3,414 | 3,963 | 3,771 | 3,543 | 3,498 | 3,443 | 3,417 | 3,364 | 3,103 | 2,851 | 2,504 | 2,386 | 2,174 | 2,122 | 1,974 | 2,031 | 1,947 | 1,326 | 1,000 |
Material deprivation
Measure | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Old measure, after housing costs | 16% | 15% | 16% | 16% | 16% | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
New measure, after housing costs | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 12% | 12% | 13% | 13% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 13% | 12% | 11% |
Old measure, before housing costs | 15% | 15% | 16% | 15% | 15% | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
New measure, before housing costs | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 10% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 10% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 10% |
Measure | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Old measure | 3,543 | 3,498 | 3,443 | 3,417 | 3,364 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
New measure | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2,851 | 2,504 | 2,386 | 2,174 | 2,122 | 1,974 | 2,031 | 1,947 | 1,326 | 1,000 |
Material deprivation data has been collected since 2004/05. Due to a change in the methodology, it is not possible to compare the most recent years with years before 2010-13 directly. This is shown as a break in the chart. But trends before and after the break are broadly stable.
Food security
Group | High | Marginal | Low | Very low |
---|---|---|---|---|
All children | 79% | 9% | 7% | 6% |
In relative poverty | 55% | 18% | 16% | 12% |
In severe poverty | 56% | 16% | 16% | 12% |
Group | Sample |
---|---|
All children | 1,000 |
In relative poverty | 224 |
In severe poverty | 166 |
Priority groups
Some types of households with children are known to be at a particularly high risk of poverty. These include households with single parents, three or more children, disabled household members, of a minority ethnic background, with a child aged under one, or a mother aged under 25. These groups do not cover everyone at higher risk of poverty, but taken together, they cover the majority of households with children that are in poverty.
This section looks at children in these groups, and their poverty risk under four different poverty measures.
Note that households with mothers aged under 25 and households with babies aged under 1 are not included in this analysis, because there were too few of them in the sample this year to provide robust estimates.
Here, the minority ethnic group includes white minorities such as white people who are not British. The Equality analysis section includes more detailed ethnicity categories.
Relative poverty
Group | Rate |
---|---|
All children | 24% |
3 or more children in the household | 34% |
Disabled household member(s) | 28% |
Youngest child in the household is under 1 | -- |
Minority ethnic household | 39% |
Single parent in the household | 38% |
Mother under 25 in household | -- |
Group | Sample |
---|---|
All children | 1,000 |
3 or more children in the household | 133 |
Disabled household member(s) | 360 |
Youngest child in the household is under 1 | 71 |
Minority ethnic household | 149 |
Single parent in the household | 279 |
Mother under 25 in household | 29 |
Absolute poverty
Group | Rate |
---|---|
All children | 21% |
3 or more children in the household | 32% |
Disabled household member(s) | 24% |
Youngest child in the household is under 1 | -- |
Minority ethnic household | 34% |
Single parent in the household | 36% |
Mother under 25 in household | -- |
Group | Sample |
---|---|
All children | 1,000 |
3 or more children in the household | 133 |
Disabled household member(s) | 360 |
Youngest child in the household is under 1 | 71 |
Minority ethnic household | 149 |
Single parent in the household | 279 |
Mother under 25 in household | 29 |
Material deprivation
Group | Rate |
---|---|
All children | 11% |
3 or more children in the household | 18% |
Disabled household member(s) | 18% |
Youngest child in the household is under 1 | -- |
Minority ethnic household | 16% |
Single parent in the household | 23% |
Mother under 25 in household | -- |
Group | Sample |
---|---|
All children | 1,000 |
3 or more children in the household | 133 |
Disabled household member(s) | 360 |
Youngest child in the household is under 1 | 71 |
Minority ethnic household | 149 |
Single parent in the household | 279 |
Mother under 25 in household | 29 |
Persistent poverty
Group | Rate |
---|---|
All children | 18% |
3 or more children in the family | -- |
Disabled adult(s) in family | 28% |
Youngest child in the family is under 5 | 22% |
Minority ethnic family | -- |
Single parent family | -- |
Mother under 25 | -- |
Group | Sample |
---|---|
All children | 382 |
3 or more children in the family | 70 |
Disabled adult(s) in family | 146 |
Youngest child in the family is under 5 | 102 |
Minority ethnic family | 11 |
Single parent family | 69 |
Mother under 25 | 2 |
Working-age adults
Working-age adults tend to be less likely to be in poverty compared to children.
Working-age adults are all adults up to the state pension age. Women’s state pension age reached 65 in November 2018, aligning it with men’s state pension age. Since December 2018, the state pension age for both men and women has been increasing. In the latest data period included in this report, the State Pension age for both men and women increased to 66 years.
Relative poverty
Measure | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
After housing costs | 18% | 18% | 19% | 19% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 19% | 19% | 18% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 20% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 21% |
Before housing costs | 16% | 15% | 16% | 16% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 16% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 16% | 15% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 15% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 18% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Working-age adults | 6,205 | 6,129 | 5,809 | 5,759 | 5,727 | 6,101 | 8,251 | 10,399 | 12,170 | 11,917 | 11,315 | 11,108 | 10,812 | 10,774 | 10,526 | 9,767 | 8,854 | 7,834 | 7,432 | 7,003 | 6,854 | 6,647 | 6,808 | 6,661 | 4,457 | 3,518 |
Working poverty
Having paid work is an effective way out of poverty, and those families where all adults are in full-time work have a low poverty risk. But having a job is not always enough, for example when it does not pay well, or when someone is unable to work enough hours.
Group | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
In workless households | 52% | 52% | 53% | 52% | 48% | 49% | 50% | 49% | 48% | 47% | 49% | 48% | 48% | 48% | 47% | 48% | 45% | 43% | 41% | 40% | 40% | 39% | 38% | 43% |
In working households | 48% | 48% | 47% | 48% | 52% | 51% | 50% | 51% | 52% | 53% | 51% | 52% | 52% | 52% | 53% | 52% | 55% | 57% | 59% | 60% | 60% | 61% | 62% | 57% |
Group | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Working-age adults | 5,809 | 5,759 | 5,727 | 6,101 | 8,251 | 10,399 | 12,170 | 11,917 | 11,315 | 11,108 | 10,812 | 10,774 | 10,526 | 9,767 | 8,854 | 7,834 | 7,432 | 7,003 | 6,854 | 6,647 | 6,808 | 6,661 | 4,457 | 3,518 |
Absolute poverty
Measure | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
After housing costs | 31% | 30% | 28% | 27% | 26% | 25% | 23% | 21% | 20% | 19% | 19% | 18% | 18% | 19% | 19% | 18% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 18% | 18% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 18% |
Before housing costs | 28% | 27% | 26% | 25% | 24% | 23% | 21% | 19% | 18% | 17% | 16% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 14% | 14% | 15% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 13% | 15% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Working-age adults | 6,205 | 6,129 | 5,809 | 5,759 | 5,727 | 6,101 | 8,251 | 10,399 | 12,170 | 11,917 | 11,315 | 11,108 | 10,812 | 10,774 | 10,526 | 9,767 | 8,854 | 7,834 | 7,432 | 7,003 | 6,854 | 6,647 | 6,808 | 6,661 | 4,457 | 3,518 |
Food security
Group | High | Marginal | Low | Very low |
---|---|---|---|---|
All working-age adults | 85% | 6% | 4% | 4% |
In relative poverty | 63% | 13% | 11% | 13% |
In severe poverty | 64% | 11% | 11% | 15% |
Group | Sample |
---|---|
All working-age adults | 3,477 |
In relative poverty | 768 |
In severe poverty | 603 |
Pensioners
Pensioners are adults who have reached their state pension age.
Women’s state pension age reached 65 in November 2018, aligning it with men’s state pension age. Since December 2018, the state pension age for both men and women has been increasing. In the latest data period included in this report, the State Pension age for both men and women increased to 66 years.
Relative poverty
Measure | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
After housing costs | 31% | 31% | 29% | 28% | 27% | 26% | 25% | 23% | 20% | 17% | 16% | 15% | 14% | 13% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 13% | 15% | 15% | 14% | 14% | 15% |
Before housing costs | 28% | 27% | 27% | 26% | 26% | 24% | 23% | 22% | 22% | 20% | 19% | 20% | 19% | 18% | 16% | 16% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 16% | 17% | 18% | 18% | 17% | 16% | 16% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pensioners | 2,322 | 2,189 | 2,082 | 2,039 | 2,131 | 2,252 | 3,111 | 4,060 | 4,828 | 4,778 | 4,538 | 4,504 | 4,461 | 4,469 | 4,471 | 4,134 | 3,756 | 3,296 | 3,172 | 3,096 | 3,039 | 3,057 | 3,052 | 3,035 | 2,003 | 1,744 |
Absolute poverty
Measure | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
After housing costs | 53% | 50% | 46% | 42% | 39% | 34% | 31% | 28% | 24% | 20% | 17% | 16% | 14% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 11% | 11% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 11% | 10% |
Before housing costs | 54% | 51% | 47% | 44% | 40% | 36% | 31% | 28% | 26% | 23% | 21% | 21% | 19% | 17% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 15% | 15% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 13% | 12% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pensioners | 2,322 | 2,189 | 2,082 | 2,039 | 2,131 | 2,252 | 3,111 | 4,060 | 4,828 | 4,778 | 4,538 | 4,504 | 4,461 | 4,469 | 4,471 | 4,134 | 3,756 | 3,296 | 3,172 | 3,096 | 3,039 | 3,057 | 3,052 | 3,035 | 2,003 | 1,744 |
Material deprivation
Group | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pensioners aged 65 and over | 8% | 8% | 8% | 8% | 7% | 6% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 5% | 4% |
Group | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Pensioners aged 65 and older | 3,497 | 3,257 | 2,931 | 2,886 | 2,872 | 2,859 | 2,939 | 2,991 | 3,014 | 2,000 | 1,744 |
Food security
Group | High | Marginal | Low | Very low |
---|---|---|---|---|
All pensioners | 96% | 2% | 1% | -- |
In relative poverty | 93% | 4% | 2% | 1% |
In severe poverty | 92% | 6% | 2% | -- |
Group | Sample |
---|---|
All pensioners | 1,743 |
In relative poverty | 286 |
In severe poverty | 155 |
Equality analysis
Poverty is measured at a household level. Everyone in the same household is considered either in poverty or not in poverty. This makes it difficult to measure the poverty risk by individual characteristics such as age or gender for people who share the households with others.
For most characteristics in this section, we include everyone in the analysis, but keep in mind that the poverty risk is influenced by others in the household.
Note that estimates in this section tend to fluctuate, because some groups are smaller and have small sample sizes. This means that we can comment on consistent differences between groups, but any short-term changes over time are hidden in the fluctuations.
Age
The age analysis looks at the age of the head of the household. Poverty rates refer to the proportion of people in households by age of the household head.
Working-age households
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16-24 | 25% | 25% | 27% | 28% | 30% | 28% | 27% | 27% | 29% | 30% | 28% | 30% | 30% | 33% | 32% | 29% | 32% | 32% | 33% | 28% | 29% | 31% | 31% | 29% | 27% | 36% |
25-34 | 27% | 26% | 27% | 27% | 29% | 27% | 26% | 24% | 24% | 22% | 21% | 20% | 20% | 21% | 20% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 20% | 22% | 24% | 24% | 22% | 22% | 23% | 20% |
35-44 | 23% | 24% | 22% | 21% | 22% | 23% | 22% | 20% | 18% | 18% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 17% | 17% | 18% | 19% | 20% | 18% | 18% | 16% | 18% | 19% | 17% |
45-54 | 14% | 13% | 13% | 14% | 15% | 16% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 17% | 16% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 16% | 17% | 18% | 18% | 17% | 21% |
55-64 | 17% | 19% | 21% | 20% | 21% | 22% | 22% | 22% | 21% | 19% | 18% | 17% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 17% | 17% | 18% | 18% | 19% | 18% | 19% | 19% | 22% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
16-24 | 1,139 | 1,133 | 1,071 | 1,038 | 1,032 | 1,077 | 1,434 | 1,765 | 2,061 | 2,065 | 1,922 | 1,885 | 1,757 | 1,776 | 1,742 | 1,603 | 1,411 | 1,161 | 1,119 | 1,020 | 1,027 | 912 | 922 | 808 | 535 | 318 |
25-34 | 1,572 | 1,523 | 1,396 | 1,325 | 1,251 | 1,260 | 1,637 | 2,017 | 2,377 | 2,321 | 2,178 | 2,039 | 1,945 | 1,961 | 1,940 | 1,819 | 1,682 | 1,540 | 1,474 | 1,353 | 1,297 | 1,200 | 1,250 | 1,210 | 841 | 626 |
35-44 | 1,408 | 1,398 | 1,344 | 1,373 | 1,372 | 1,453 | 1,993 | 2,571 | 3,010 | 2,860 | 2,713 | 2,651 | 2,609 | 2,483 | 2,336 | 2,117 | 1,885 | 1,652 | 1,489 | 1,382 | 1,335 | 1,280 | 1,288 | 1,230 | 824 | 675 |
45-54 | 1,131 | 1,130 | 1,108 | 1,117 | 1,141 | 1,283 | 1,777 | 2,198 | 2,535 | 2,482 | 2,411 | 2,464 | 2,488 | 2,509 | 2,495 | 2,314 | 2,134 | 1,855 | 1,770 | 1,667 | 1,594 | 1,543 | 1,546 | 1,492 | 970 | 714 |
55-64 | 1,047 | 1,025 | 989 | 1,012 | 1,034 | 1,125 | 1,559 | 2,048 | 2,456 | 2,442 | 2,356 | 2,317 | 2,289 | 2,323 | 2,295 | 2,149 | 1,909 | 1,723 | 1,645 | 1,593 | 1,584 | 1,616 | 1,655 | 1,692 | 1,118 | 976 |
Pensioner households
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
65-74 | 27% | 27% | 26% | 26% | 25% | 24% | 24% | 22% | 19% | 15% | 14% | 14% | 13% | 12% | 11% | 12% | 12% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 12% | 12% | 13% | 14% | 16% |
75-84 | 39% | 38% | 36% | 32% | 30% | 28% | 26% | 24% | 22% | 20% | 18% | 18% | 16% | 14% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 13% | 16% | 19% | 19% | 17% | 16% | 17% |
85+ | 32% | 33% | 33% | 31% | 28% | 29% | 29% | 27% | 23% | 19% | 19% | 18% | 16% | 14% | 13% | 13% | 15% | 16% | 18% | 18% | 17% | 17% | 15% | 16% | 16% | 13% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
65-74 | 1,139 | 1,079 | 1,011 | 958 | 976 | 1,026 | 1,447 | 1,832 | 2,133 | 2,078 | 1,976 | 1,955 | 1,924 | 1,894 | 1,926 | 1,790 | 1,716 | 1,550 | 1,521 | 1,509 | 1,514 | 1,562 | 1,598 | 1,597 | 1,063 | 969 |
75-84 | 670 | 623 | 612 | 594 | 633 | 664 | 900 | 1,244 | 1,513 | 1,546 | 1,434 | 1,419 | 1,377 | 1,360 | 1,333 | 1,228 | 1,100 | 986 | 967 | 974 | 946 | 954 | 980 | 1,014 | 691 | 605 |
85+ | 193 | 194 | 167 | 162 | 187 | 207 | 276 | 328 | 373 | 363 | 347 | 362 | 350 | 380 | 375 | 365 | 315 | 283 | 292 | 297 | 299 | 302 | 282 | 303 | 197 | 178 |
Poverty estimates for children by age are available in the associated tables.
Gender
In 2019-22, 20% of women and 20% of men were in relative poverty after housing costs.
Poverty is measured at a household level. This means that men and women in the same household are both either in poverty or not in poverty. In the analysis below, we therefore only include single adult households (with or without dependent children).
In 2019-22, the relative poverty rate after housing costs for single adults (working-age and pensioners) was 29%, higher than for the total adult population (20%).
Single working-age adults and gender
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Single mother | 64% | 63% | 63% | 60% | 58% | 55% | 52% | 52% | 49% | 47% | 46% | 47% | 47% | 45% | 40% | 36% | 32% | 33% | 35% | 38% | 41% | 39% | 37% | 38% | 40% | 36% |
Single man, no children | 39% | 39% | 40% | 39% | 41% | 41% | 39% | 37% | 35% | 34% | 33% | 32% | 33% | 34% | 35% | 34% | 35% | 35% | 35% | 34% | 33% | 32% | 33% | 34% | 36% | 36% |
Single woman, no children | 32% | 31% | 29% | 29% | 33% | 33% | 34% | 31% | 32% | 28% | 27% | 29% | 29% | 29% | 27% | 29% | 29% | 33% | 34% | 34% | 32% | 30% | 28% | 27% | 26% | 30% |
Single father | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Single mother | 478 | 452 | 398 | 408 | 410 | 449 | 602 | 779 | 904 | 848 | 781 | 764 | 771 | 771 | 734 | 687 | 656 | 615 | 587 | 509 | 461 | 421 | 423 | 425 | 282 | 218 |
Single man, no children | 579 | 582 | 551 | 548 | 548 | 596 | 793 | 1,061 | 1,280 | 1,323 | 1,276 | 1,244 | 1,224 | 1,232 | 1,204 | 1,136 | 998 | 918 | 857 | 858 | 820 | 837 | 803 | 792 | 497 | 449 |
Single woman, no children | 449 | 420 | 421 | 451 | 500 | 519 | 685 | 844 | 1,017 | 989 | 968 | 924 | 893 | 892 | 877 | 859 | 753 | 701 | 656 | 677 | 661 | 664 | 716 | 769 | 541 | 483 |
Single father | 43 | 38 | 34 | 22 | 29 | 32 | 47 | 66 | 74 | 73 | 60 | 60 | 50 | 44 | 46 | 58 | 61 | 54 | 41 | 32 | 36 | 33 | 41 | 33 | 26 | 16 |
Single pensioners and gender
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Single male pensioner | 33% | 40% | 42% | 42% | 34% | 28% | 22% | 20% | 17% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 13% | 12% | 10% | 10% | 12% | 13% | 15% | 17% | 19% | 18% |
Single female pensioner | 45% | 44% | 43% | 39% | 38% | 36% | 34% | 30% | 25% | 21% | 19% | 20% | 17% | 16% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 15% | 18% | 20% | 19% | 19% | 18% | 20% | 19% | 23% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Single male pensioner | 286 | 275 | 236 | 235 | 259 | 284 | 378 | 506 | 604 | 617 | 564 | 561 | 520 | 509 | 507 | 512 | 512 | 469 | 458 | 443 | 463 | 470 | 511 | 525 | 368 | 318 |
Single female pensioner | 927 | 847 | 820 | 783 | 789 | 824 | 1,160 | 1,506 | 1,739 | 1,709 | 1,624 | 1,642 | 1,561 | 1,555 | 1,549 | 1,417 | 1,260 | 1,071 | 1,029 | 996 | 922 | 913 | 890 | 930 | 620 | 575 |
Estimates for all men and women (whether in single, couple or other households) are available in the associated tables.
Sexual orientation
Group | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LGB+ | 27% | 22% | 22% | 21% | 23% | 23% | 24% | 26% | 27% |
Heterosexual / straight | 18% | 18% | 18% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 20% |
(Missing) | 13% | 13% | 14% | 14% | 16% | 15% | 15% | 14% | 17% |
Group | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
LGB+ | 40 | 39 | 37 | 37 | 36 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 38 |
Heterosexual / straight | 49 | 50 | 50 | 51 | 51 | 52 | 52 | 53 | 53 |
(Missing) | 39 | 38 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 38 | 38 | 38 | 41 |
Marital status
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Divorced | 40% | 37% | 38% | 38% | 41% | 41% | 40% | 38% | 34% | 30% | 28% | 29% | 29% | 28% | 27% | 26% | 25% | 26% | 27% | 27% | 27% | 26% | 25% | 27% | 28% | 31% |
Widowed | 37% | 38% | 37% | 34% | 31% | 28% | 27% | 24% | 21% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 16% | 15% | 13% | 13% | 12% | 14% | 16% | 18% | 18% | 19% | 17% | 19% | 19% | 21% |
Cohabiting | 24% | 23% | 21% | 22% | 21% | 20% | 19% | 18% | 20% | 19% | 19% | 20% | 19% | 20% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 18% | 19% | 20% | 21% | 20% | 19% | 18% | 17% |
Single | 23% | 23% | 24% | 24% | 27% | 26% | 26% | 25% | 26% | 26% | 26% | 26% | 26% | 27% | 27% | 26% | 27% | 28% | 28% | 26% | 26% | 28% | 27% | 27% | 26% | 31% |
Married | 16% | 16% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 16% | 16% | 15% | 14% | 13% | 13% | 12% | 12% | 11% | 12% | 12% | 12% | 11% | 11% | 11% | 12% | 12% | 13% | 13% | 13% | 14% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Divorced | 959 | 952 | 885 | 899 | 916 | 1,025 | 1,392 | 1,795 | 2,072 | 1,996 | 1,897 | 1,917 | 1,982 | 1,979 | 1,923 | 1,753 | 1,587 | 1,413 | 1,334 | 1,258 | 1,206 | 1,213 | 1,268 | 1,297 | 859 | 731 |
Widowed | 1,212 | 1,120 | 1,045 | 1,023 | 1,074 | 1,141 | 1,522 | 1,913 | 2,214 | 2,164 | 1,985 | 1,951 | 1,823 | 1,831 | 1,774 | 1,631 | 1,438 | 1,251 | 1,190 | 1,168 | 1,116 | 1,114 | 1,089 | 1,119 | 757 | 664 |
Cohabiting | 594 | 630 | 670 | 708 | 766 | 806 | 1,172 | 1,560 | 1,932 | 1,968 | 1,954 | 1,972 | 1,976 | 2,054 | 2,124 | 2,034 | 1,896 | 1,784 | 1,788 | 1,740 | 1,630 | 1,630 | 1,646 | 1,632 | 1,056 | 830 |
Single | 2,305 | 2,318 | 2,242 | 2,211 | 2,207 | 2,287 | 3,078 | 3,920 | 4,674 | 4,641 | 4,367 | 4,244 | 4,109 | 4,142 | 4,090 | 3,871 | 3,497 | 3,071 | 2,926 | 2,780 | 2,745 | 2,563 | 2,595 | 2,496 | 1,670 | 1,309 |
Married | 7,052 | 6,800 | 6,382 | 6,184 | 6,092 | 6,478 | 8,890 | 11,190 | 13,064 | 12,744 | 12,222 | 11,988 | 11,674 | 11,414 | 11,186 | 10,226 | 9,364 | 8,246 | 7,866 | 7,438 | 7,428 | 7,328 | 7,492 | 7,236 | 4,850 | 3,884 |
Ethnicity
Ethnicity data relates to all people in a household and is based on the ethnicity of the adult with the highest income.
Group | 2001-06 | 2002-07 | 2003-08 | 2004-09 | 2005-10 | 2006-11 | 2007-12 | 2008-13 | 2009-14 | 2010-15 | 2011-16 | 2012-17 | 2013-18 | 2014-19 | 2015-20 | 2016-21 | 2017-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mixed, Black or Black British, and Other | 39% | 35% | 36% | 35% | 37% | 35% | 36% | 35% | 36% | 33% | 35% | 36% | 40% | 40% | 43% | 44% | 48% |
Asian or Asian British | 37% | 35% | 36% | 37% | 42% | 42% | 42% | 42% | 39% | 36% | 35% | 36% | 34% | 39% | 41% | 42% | 49% |
White - Other | 24% | 23% | 23% | 22% | 23% | 24% | 25% | 25% | 27% | 27% | 26% | 25% | 26% | 25% | 24% | 24% | 23% |
White - British | 20% | 19% | 19% | 18% | 18% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 18% | 18% |
Group | 2001-06 | 2002-07 | 2003-08 | 2004-09 | 2005-10 | 2006-11 | 2007-12 | 2008-13 | 2009-14 | 2010-15 | 2011-16 | 2012-17 | 2013-18 | 2014-19 | 2015-20 | 2016-21 | 2017-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mixed, Black or Black British, and Other | 38 | 39 | 39 | 38 | 38 | 39 | 37 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 38 | 39 | 41 |
Asian or Asian British | 38 | 38 | 39 | 39 | 39 | 38 | 36 | 37 | 36 | 36 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 37 | 38 | 38 | 40 |
White - Other | 43 | 44 | 43 | 42 | 42 | 42 | 41 | 40 | 39 | 37 | 36 | 36 | 35 | 35 | 36 | 36 | 37 |
White - British | 50 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 51 | 51 | 51 | 51 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 53 | 53 | 54 | 54 | 54 | 55 |
More information on ethnicity data
Figure 27 shows an ethnicity breakdown based on an average of data from the past five years. This provides a reasonably detailed breakdown, whilst still using relatively recent data. A more detailed ethnicity breakdown using ten years of data was previously published.
Due to the small sample sizes for some of the ethnic groups, and the fact that ethnic composition of the population is not accounted for in the survey weighting process, estimates fluctuate between years and the measurement uncertainty is fairly large.
Religion
Data on religion is available for adults only, so this analysis does not include children.
Group | 2011-16 | 2012-17 | 2013-18 | 2014-19 | 2015-20 | 2016-21 | 2017-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Muslim | 33% | 37% | 41% | 49% | 52% | 56% | 63% |
No religion | 19% | 20% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 19% |
Roman Catholic | 18% | 19% | 20% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 19% |
Other Christian | 18% | 18% | 18% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 19% |
Other religion | 18% | 18% | 19% | 18% | 21% | 21% | 27% |
Church of Scotland | 14% | 14% | 14% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 16% |
Group | 2011-16 | 2012-17 | 2013-18 | 2014-19 | 2015-20 | 2016-21 | 2017-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Muslim | 32 | 32 | 33 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 36 |
No religion | 39 | 40 | 40 | 40 | 41 | 41 | 41 |
Roman Catholic | 47 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 49 | 50 |
Other Christian | 51 | 50 | 50 | 50 | 49 | 49 | 51 |
Other religion | 48 | 48 | 50 | 49 | 50 | 50 | 48 |
Church of Scotland | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 62 | 63 |
More information on religion data
Figure 28 shows an average for data from the past five financial years.
Due to the small sample sizes for some of the religious groups, and the fact that religious composition of the population is not accounted for in the survey weighting process, estimates fluctuate between years and the measurement uncertainty is fairly large.
Disability
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No-one disabled | 22% | 21% | 21% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 20% | 19% | 18% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 16% | 15% | 15% | 15% | 16% | 16% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 17% | 18% |
Someone disabled | 28% | 27% | 29% | 30% | 31% | 30% | 28% | 26% | 25% | 24% | 24% | 24% | 23% | 22% | 21% | 20% | 22% | 22% | 23% | 23% | 23% | 24% | 23% | 23% | 22% | 24% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No-one disabled | 3,553 | 5,211 | 4,970 | 4,813 | 4,752 | 5,019 | 6,831 | 8,647 | 10,219 | 9,994 | 9,535 | 9,292 | 9,142 | 9,219 | 9,022 | 8,283 | 7,383 | 6,532 | 6,107 | 5,746 | 5,515 | 5,337 | 5,365 | 5,126 | 3,395 | 2,714 |
Someone disabled | 1,931 | 2,894 | 2,728 | 2,766 | 2,874 | 3,076 | 4,192 | 5,356 | 6,239 | 6,163 | 5,802 | 5,800 | 5,597 | 5,467 | 5,420 | 5,102 | 4,769 | 4,218 | 4,170 | 4,049 | 4,081 | 4,032 | 4,156 | 4,220 | 2,844 | 2,347 |
The way in which information on disabled people is collected changed several times during this timeseries. This causes breaks in the timeseries. Due to these changes, care needs to be taken when considering long-term trends.
Since 2012/13, disabled people are identified as those who report any physical or mental health condition(s) or illness(es) that last or are expected to last 12 months or more, and which limit their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.
More detail can be found on pages 34-36 in the 2015/16 Households Below Average Incomes technical report.
Additional living costs of disabled people
Some illnesses and disabilities incur additional living costs. The poverty measure does not normally consider this. However, the analysis shown in Figure 30 uses an adjusted poverty rate that partly accounts for additional living costs for those households where someone receives disability benefits.
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No-one disabled | 21% | 21% | 20% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 19% | 18% | 17% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 15% | 14% | 14% | 14% | 15% | 15% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 16% | 16% |
Someone disabled | 33% | 33% | 35% | 36% | 38% | 36% | 34% | 32% | 31% | 30% | 29% | 29% | 29% | 27% | 27% | 26% | 27% | 27% | 27% | 27% | 28% | 30% | 29% | 29% | 28% | 29% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No-one disabled | 3,553 | 5,211 | 4,970 | 4,813 | 4,752 | 5,019 | 6,831 | 8,647 | 10,219 | 9,994 | 9,535 | 9,292 | 9,142 | 9,219 | 9,022 | 8,283 | 7,383 | 6,532 | 6,107 | 5,746 | 5,515 | 5,337 | 5,365 | 5,126 | 3,395 | 2,714 |
Someone disabled | 1,931 | 2,894 | 2,728 | 2,766 | 2,874 | 3,076 | 4,192 | 5,356 | 6,239 | 6,163 | 5,802 | 5,800 | 5,597 | 5,467 | 5,420 | 5,102 | 4,769 | 4,218 | 4,170 | 4,049 | 4,081 | 4,032 | 4,156 | 4,220 | 2,844 | 2,347 |
Excluding disability benefits from the analysis changes the poverty threshold. This is because some households now have a lower income, which lowers the median and therefore also the poverty threshold. As a consequence, some households without a disabled person that were just below the poverty threshold in the previous analysis will now be above the threshold. As a result, the poverty rate for households without a disabled person is slightly lower.
Income
Income inequality
Summary measures of income inequality are useful for tracking change over time. In this section, we use a range of summary measures to describe different features of the income distribution.
The Gini coefficient of inequality is widely used, and it is based on the whole distribution. But it is sometimes considered overly sensitive to changes in the middle, and not sensitive enough to changes at the top and the bottom. The Palma ratio focuses on the top and the bottom of the distribution only. In practice, both Gini and Palma measures show very similar trends. Decile shares give a more nuanced picture of the different parts of the distribution, but they cannot be summarised with a single estimate.
Palma
Measure | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Before housing costs | 112% | 114% | 116% | 121% | 126% | 126% | 122% | 116% | 113% | 113% | 116% | 123% | 129% | 133% | 127% | 122% | 116% | 115% | 114% | 121% | 125% | 127% | 124% | 121% | 120% | 118% |
After housing costs | 129% | 131% | 134% | 141% | 147% | 146% | 141% | 133% | 131% | 131% | 135% | 144% | 152% | 157% | 151% | 143% | 137% | 137% | 136% | 144% | 148% | 152% | 147% | 143% | 142% | 138% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All people | 8,299 | 8,105 | 7,698 | 7,579 | 7,626 | 8,095 | 11,023 | 14,003 | 16,458 | 16,157 | 15,337 | 15,092 | 14,739 | 14,686 | 14,442 | 13,385 | 12,152 | 10,750 | 10,277 | 9,795 | 9,596 | 9,369 | 9,521 | 9,346 | 6,239 | 5,061 |
Income decile shares are available in the associated tables.
Gini
Measure | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Before housing costs | 31% | 31% | 31% | 32% | 33% | 32% | 32% | 31% | 30% | 31% | 31% | 32% | 33% | 33% | 33% | 32% | 31% | 31% | 31% | 32% | 32% | 33% | 32% | 32% | 32% | 31% |
After housing costs | 33% | 34% | 34% | 35% | 36% | 35% | 35% | 34% | 33% | 34% | 34% | 35% | 36% | 37% | 36% | 35% | 34% | 34% | 34% | 35% | 36% | 36% | 36% | 35% | 35% | 34% |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All people | 8,299 | 8,105 | 7,698 | 7,579 | 7,626 | 8,095 | 11,023 | 14,003 | 16,458 | 16,157 | 15,337 | 15,092 | 14,739 | 14,686 | 14,442 | 13,385 | 12,152 | 10,750 | 10,277 | 9,795 | 9,596 | 9,369 | 9,521 | 9,346 | 6,239 | 5,061 |
Income trends
Measure | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
After housing costs | £326 | £335 | £348 | £361 | £372 | £388 | £404 | £425 | £439 | £450 | £452 | £460 | £469 | £479 | £476 | £470 | £461 | £463 | £470 | £477 | £487 | £490 | £496 | £504 | £511 | £505 |
Before housing costs | £387 | £397 | £410 | £422 | £432 | £448 | £462 | £480 | £493 | £503 | £506 | £513 | £521 | £532 | £531 | £528 | £519 | £521 | £528 | £533 | £544 | £546 | £551 | £558 | £563 | £552 |
Group | 1994-97 | 1995-98 | 1996-99 | 1997-00 | 1998-01 | 1999-02 | 2000-03 | 2001-04 | 2002-05 | 2003-06 | 2004-07 | 2005-08 | 2006-09 | 2007-10 | 2008-11 | 2009-12 | 2010-13 | 2011-14 | 2012-15 | 2013-16 | 2014-17 | 2015-18 | 2016-19 | 2017-20 | 2018-21 | 2019-22 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All people | 8,299 | 8,105 | 7,698 | 7,579 | 7,626 | 8,095 | 11,023 | 14,003 | 16,458 | 16,157 | 15,337 | 15,092 | 14,739 | 14,686 | 14,442 | 13,385 | 12,152 | 10,750 | 10,277 | 9,795 | 9,596 | 9,369 | 9,521 | 9,346 | 6,239 | 5,061 |
Year | Lowest | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | Highest |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2018/19 | £277 | £361 | £420 | £482 | £548 | £613 | £699 | £808 | £1007 |
2019/20 | £273 | £365 | £435 | £509 | £579 | £665 | £747 | £853 | £1031 |
2020/21 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
2021/22 | £267 | £341 | £415 | £465 | £525 | £615 | £706 | £824 | £1044 |
Year | Sample |
---|---|
2018/19 | 3,212 |
2019/20 | 3,027 |
2020/21 | 0 |
2021/22 | 2,034 |
Decile | Change |
---|---|
Lowest | -4% |
2nd | -6% |
3rd | -1% |
4th | -4% |
5th | -4% |
6th | 0% |
7th | 1% |
8th | 2% |
Highest | 4% |
Group | 2018/19 | 2021/22 |
---|---|---|
All | 3,212 | 2,034 |
After-housing-costs data is available in the associated tables.
Income distribution
Poverty thresholds
Most of the income estimates in this publication are based on equivalised income. This means that household income is adjusted to reflect different household sizes and compositions. When income is not equivalised, households of different sizes have different poverty thresholds. The table below shows the relative and absolute poverty thresholds, before equivalisation, for households of different sizes.
The incomes presented elsewhere in this report use the value for “Couple with no children” as the standard; incomes of all other household types are adjusted (equivalised) to reflect their different household composition.
Measure | Single person with no children | Couple with no children | Single person with children aged 5 and 14 | Couple with children aged 5 and 14 |
---|---|---|---|---|
UK median income | £290 | £499 | £599 | £809 |
Scottish median income | £293 | £505 | £606 | £818 |
Relative poverty threshold (60% of UK median income) | £174 | £300 | £360 | £485 |
Absolute poverty threshold (60% of inflation-adjusted 2010/11 UK median income) | £153 | £264 | £317 | £427 |
Measure | Single person with no children | Couple with no children | Single person with children aged 5 and 14 | Couple with children aged 5 and 14 |
---|---|---|---|---|
UK median income | £381 | £569 | £683 | £870 |
Scottish median income | £370 | £552 | £662 | £844 |
Relative poverty threshold (60% of UK median income) | £229 | £341 | £410 | £522 |
Absolute poverty threshold (60% of inflation-adjusted 2010/11 UK median income) | £206 | £307 | £369 | £470 |
Measure | Single person with no children | Couple with no children | Single person with children aged 5 and 14 | Couple with children aged 5 and 14 |
---|---|---|---|---|
UK median income | £15,100 | £26,000 | £31,200 | £42,200 |
Scottish median income | £15,300 | £26,300 | £31,600 | £42,600 |
Relative poverty threshold (60% of UK median income) | £9,100 | £15,600 | £18,700 | £25,300 |
Absolute poverty threshold (60% of inflation-adjusted 2010/11 UK median income) | £8,000 | £13,800 | £16,500 | £22,300 |
Measure | Single person with no children | Couple with no children | Single person with children aged 5 and 14 | Couple with children aged 5 and 14 |
---|---|---|---|---|
UK median income | £19,900 | £29,700 | £35,600 | £45,400 |
Scottish median income | £19,300 | £28,800 | £34,500 | £44,000 |
Relative poverty threshold (60% of UK median income) | £11,900 | £17,800 | £21,400 | £27,200 |
Absolute poverty threshold (60% of inflation-adjusted 2010/11 UK median income) | £10,700 | £16,000 | £19,200 | £24,500 |
Income sources
Source | Lowest | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | Highest |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Earnings | 44% | 41% | 46% | 62% | 65% | 69% | 75% | 83% | 85% | 80% |
Investments | 3% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 1% | 3% | 8% |
Occupational pensions | 5% | 4% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 9% | 9% | 8% | 6% | 8% |
Other sources | 4% | 6% | 4% | 2% | 3% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 2% | 1% |
Social security payments | 46% | 46% | 40% | 27% | 24% | 18% | 13% | 6% | 3% | 2% |
Group | Lowest | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | Highest |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
All | 544 | 527 | 562 | 516 | 519 | 549 | 495 | 457 | 447 | 445 |
Data source
All the figures in this publication come from the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Households Below Average Income dataset, which is produced from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). UK figures are published by DWP in Households Below Average Income on the same day as Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland. For the UK figures, as well as more detail about the way these figures are collected and calculated, see the DWP website.
What does HBAI measure?
Households Below Average Income (HBAI) uses household disposable incomes, adjusted for the household size and composition, as a proxy for material living standards. More precisely, it is a proxy for the level of consumption of goods and services that people could attain given the disposable income of the household in which they live.
The unit of analysis is the individual, so the populations and percentages in the tables are numbers and percentages of individuals - both adults and children.
Data is collected during the financial year, so between April and March of the following year. Statistics are usually published in March, a year after the end of the data collection.
The living standards of an individual depend not only on his or her own income, but also on the income of others in the household. Consequently, the analyses are based on total household income: the equivalised income of a household is taken to represent the income level of every individual in the household. Equivalisation, a technique that allows comparison of incomes between households of different sizes and compositions, is explained in the Definitions section. Thus, all members of any one household will appear at the same point in the income distribution.
Data collection during the coronavirus pandemic
add text here re 2020/21 data
Revision of the data
In 2021, previously published datasets underwent a minor methodological revision to capture all income from child maintenance. This led to small changes in household income and small adjustments to some poverty estimates. Therefore, some poverty and income estimates that were published in 2021 may not exactly match previously published estimates for 1994/95 to 2018/19. The revision did not affect any trends in poverty or household income.
Population coverage
The Family Resources Survey is a survey of private households. This means that people in residential institutions, such as nursing homes, barracks, prisons or university halls of residence, and also homeless people are excluded from the scope of the analysis presented here. The area of Scotland north of the Caledonian Canal was included in the FRS for the first time in the 2001/02 survey year, and from the 2002/03 survey year, the FRS was extended to include a 100 percent boost of the Scottish sample. This has increased the sample size available for analysis at the Scottish level. In 2002/03, the sample size was around five thousand. However, following cost savings introduced to the FRS in 2010, the sample size in Scotland has reduced. It was just over 2,800 households in 2021/22. For further information see the DWP Households Below Average Income publication.
Reliability of estimates
Estimates in this report are based on a sample survey and are therefore subject to sampling variation as well as other measurement error.
Confidence intervals describe measurement uncertainty that comes from using a random sample to represent a whole population. There are other sources of measurement error, which are not captured by confidence intervals. This means that confidence intervals can only represent part of the measurement uncertainty.
We use two kinds of confidence intervals, with tables and more detail available on the measurement uncertainty page. Estimates for the confidence intervals around the key figures are provided by DWP. We have also added indicative confidence intervals to all poverty charts. They are not as accurate as those calculated for the key figures, but they sufficiently reflect how sample size and variation affect measurement uncertainty.
When describing trends or differences between groups in this report, we judge whether an apparent trend or a difference is likely to be real by looking at a range of clues:
- Is the trend or difference large?
- Is it consistent over time?
- How much do previous data points fluctuate?
- How much measurement uncertainty do the confidence intervals suggest?
- Does the trend make sense based on what else we know about the economy or the groups?
- What do we know about any data issues affecting this particular data?
The Family Resources Survey publication contains information on topics such as sample design, non-response biases, weighting; item non-response, imputation and editing; accuracy of income data.
Detailed methodology
More detailed information on definitions and methodology can be found on the Scottish Government’s poverty methodology pages and in DWP’s Households Below Average Income publication.
Housing costs
It could be argued that the costs of housing faced by different households at a given time do not always match the true value of the housing that they actually enjoy, and that housing costs should therefore be deducted from any definition of disposable income. However, any measure of income defined in this way would understate the relative standard of living of those individuals who were actually benefiting from a better quality of housing by paying more for better accommodation. Income growth over time would also understate improvements in living standards where higher costs reflected improvements in the quality of housing.
Conversely, any income measure which does not deduct housing costs may overstate the living standards of individuals whose housing costs are high relative to the quality of their accommodation. Growth over time in income before housing costs could also overstate improvements in living standards for low income groups in receipt of housing benefit, and whose rents have risen in real terms. This is because housing benefit may also rise to offset the higher rents (for a given quality of accommodation) and would be counted as an income rise, although there would be no associated increase in the standard of living.
Therefore, this publication presents analyses on two bases: before housing costs (BHC) and after housing costs (AHC).
Definitions
Household income
The income measure used in HBAI is weekly net (disposable) equivalised household income. This comprises total income from all sources of all household members including dependants. An adjustment is made to sample cases at the top of the income distribution to correct for volatility in the highest incomes captured in the survey.
Income is adjusted for household size and composition by means of equivalence scales, which reflect the extent to which households of different size and composition require a different level of income to achieve the same standard of living. This adjusted income is referred to as equivalised income (see definition below for more information on equivalisation).
Income before housing costs (BHC) includes the following main components:
- net earnings
- profit or loss from self-employment (after income tax and National Insurance contributions)
- all UK and Scottish social security payments, including housing and council tax benefits, tax credits, and the state pension
- occupational and private pension income
- investment income
- maintenance payments
- top-up loans and parental contributions for students, educational grants and payments
- the cash value of certain forms of income in kind such as free school meals, free welfare milk and free school milk and free TV licences for the over 75s (where data is available)
Income is net of:
- income tax payments
- National Insurance contributions
- contributions to occupational, stakeholder and personal pension schemes
- council tax
- maintenance and child support payments made
- parental contributions to students living away from home
Income after housing costs (AHC) is derived by deducting a measure of housing costs from the above income measure.
Housing costs
Housing costs include the following: rent (gross of housing benefit); water rates; mortgage interest payments; structural insurance premiums; ground rent and service charges.
Income sources
The analysis on income sources is the only analysis in this report not using net income. This analysis is based on income before taxes from employment or self-employment, social security payments, investment, occupational pensions and other income. In some cases, income from self-employment was negative in a year, for example, when someone in self-employment made a loss. In these cases, total income from earnings was set to zero. Negative investment income was also set to zero.
Real prices
Unless otherwise stated, all figures relating to income are in 2021/22 prices. Values from previous years are uprated to account for inflation using a variant of the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This follows a change in methodology for 2014/15. Prior to this the Retail Price Index (RPI) was used.
Full details can be found at this link: Methodological changes to poverty statistics (pdf)
Equivalisation
Equivalisation is the process by which household income is adjusted to take into account variations in the size and composition of the households in which individuals live. This reflects the common sense notion that, in order to enjoy a comparable standard of living, a household of, for example, three adults will need a higher income than a single person living alone. The process of adjusting income in this way is known as equivalisation and is needed in order to make sensible income comparisons between households.
Equivalence scales conventionally take an adult couple without children as the reference point, with an equivalence value of one. The process then increases relatively the income of single person households (since their incomes are divided by a value of less than one) and reduces relatively the incomes of households with three or more persons, which have an equivalence value of greater than one.
Consider a single person, a couple with no children, and a couple with two children aged fourteen and ten, all having unadjusted weekly household incomes of £200 (Before Housing Costs). The process of equivalisation, as conducted in HBAI, gives an equivalised income of £299 to the single person, £200 to the couple with no children, but only £131 to the couple with children.
The equivalence scales used here are the modified OECD scales. Two separate scales are used, one for income Before Housing Costs (BHC) and the companion scale for income After Housing Costs (AHC).
Household member | Before housing costs | After housing costs |
---|---|---|
First adult | 0.67 | 0.58 |
Spouse | 0.33 | 0.42 |
Additional adults | 0.33 | 0.42 |
Children aged 0-13 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
Children aged 14+ | 0.33 | 0.42 |
The construction of household equivalence values from these scales is quite straightforward. For example, the BHC equivalence value for a household containing a couple with a fourteen year old and a ten year old child together with one other adult would be 1.86 from the sum of the scale values:
0.67 + 0.33 + 0.33 + 0.33 + 0.20 = 1.86
This is made up of 0.67 for the first adult, 0.33 for their spouse, the other adult and the fourteen year old child and 0.20 for the ten year old child. The total income for the household would then be divided by 1.86 in order to arrive at the measure of equivalised household income used in HBAI analysis.
Further information on equivalisation can be found in the methodology report on the Scottish Government website.
Poverty measurement
Individuals are defined as being in poverty if their equivalised net disposable household income is below the poverty line. Different poverty measures have different poverty lines, for example:
Relative poverty: Relative poverty is the most commonly used poverty measure. The relative poverty line is 60% of the UK median income in the same year. People are in relative poverty if they live in a household whose equivalised income is below this amount. Relative poverty is a measure of whether those in the lowest income households are keeping pace with the growth of incomes in the economy as a whole.
Absolute poverty: The absolute poverty line is 60% of the inflation-adjusted UK median income in 2010/11. People are in absolute poverty if they live in a household whose equivalised income is below this amount. Absolute poverty is a measure of whether those in the lowest income households are seeing their incomes rise in real terms.
Severe poverty: The severe poverty line is 50% of the UK median income in the same year. People are in severe poverty if they live in a household whose equivalised income is below this amount. Severe poverty is a measure of whether those in the very lowest income households are keeping pace with the growth of incomes in the economy as a whole.
The latest poverty lines can be found in the Poverty thresholds section.
The median is the income value which divides a population, when ranked by income, into two equal sized groups. Since the mean is influenced considerably by the highest incomes, median income thresholds are widely accepted as a better benchmark when considering a derived measure for poverty.
Child material deprivation
A suite of questions designed to capture the material deprivation experienced by households with children has been included in the Family Resources Survey since 2004/05. Respondents are asked whether they have 21 goods and services, including child, adult and household items. The list of items was identified by independent academic analysis (pdf, McKay, S. and Collard, S. (2004)). Together, these questions form a discriminator between those households with children that are deprived and those that are not. If they do not have a good or service, they are asked whether this is because they do not want them or because they cannot afford them.
These questions are used as an additional way of measuring living standards for children and their households.
A prevalence weighted approach has been used, in combination with a relative low income threshold. The income threshold is 70 percent of the median income. Prevalence weighting is a technique of scoring deprivation in which more weight in the deprivation measure is given to households lacking those items that most in the population already have. This means a greater importance, when an item is lacked, is assigned to those items that are more commonly owned in the population.
Changes to measuring material deprivation in 2010/11
The 21 items in the suite of questions used to measure material deprivation are designed to reflect the items and activities people in the UK believe to be necessary. These items are reviewed periodically to ensure the measure remains a relative measure of poverty. In 2010/11, four new questions about additional items were included in the FRS to be used in the future calculation of material deprivation scores, replacing the four existing items that were identified by research as potentially out of date partly because the proportion of the population considering them necessary had fallen. As such, there is a break in the series for child low income/material deprivation and estimates from 2010/11 onwards cannot be compared to those from before 2010/11.
In the 2010/11 FRS, both the new and the old questions were asked. As such, single-year estimates are presented based on both sets of questions for this year.
For further information about material deprivation see the DWP Households Below Average Income publication.
Pensioner material deprivation
A suite of questions designed to capture the material deprivation experienced by pensioner households has been included in the Family Resources Survey since 2009/10. Respondents are asked whether they have access to 15 goods and services. The list of items was identified by independent academic analysis. See:
- Legard, R., Gray, M. and Blake, M. (2008), Cognitive testing: older people and the FRS material deprivation questions, Department for Work and Pensions Working Paper Number 55 (pdf)
- McKay, S. (2008), Measuring material deprivation among older people: Methodological study to revise the Family Resources Survey questions, Department for Work and Pensions Working Paper Number 54 (pdf)
Together, these questions form the best discriminator between those pensioner households that are deprived and those that are not.
Where they do not have a good or service, pensioner households are asked whether this is because they do not have the money for this, it is not a priority on their current income, their health / disability prevents them, it is too much trouble or tiring, they have no one to do this with or help them, it is not something they want, it is not relevant to them, or any other reason. Where a pensioner lacks one of the material deprivation items for one of the following reasons - they do not have the money for this, it is not a priority for them on their current income, their health / disability prevents them, it is too much trouble or tiring, they have no one to do this with or help them, or any other reason - they are counted as being deprived for that item.
The exception to this is for the question on whether they could cover an unexpected expense, where the follow up question was asked to explore how those who responded ‘yes’ would cover this cost. Options were: use own income but cut back on essentials, use own income but not need to cut back on essentials, use savings; use a form of credit, get money from friends or family, or any other reason. Pensioners are counted as materially deprived for this item if and only if they responded ‘no’ to the initial question.
The same prevalence weighted approach has been used to that for children, in determining a deprivation score. Prevalence weighting is a technique of scoring deprivation in which more weight in the deprivation measure is given to households lacking those items that most already have. This means a greater importance, when an item is lacked, is assigned to those items that are more commonly owned in the pensioner population.
For children, material deprivation is presented as an indicator in combination with a low income threshold. However for pensioners, the concept of material deprivation is broad and very different from low income; therefore, it is appropriate to present it as a separate measure.
A technical note giving a full explanation of the pensioner material deprivation measure is available for download.
Food security
The Family Resources Survey collected household food security information for the first time in 2019/20. The questions were adopted from the United States Department of Agriculture’s Adult Food Security Survey Module (pdf), using a 30-day reference period, and using the same food security levels (“high”, “marginal”, “low”, “very low”).
The food security analysis in this report excludes shared households, such as a house shared by a group of professionals. These respondents may not have insight into the food security status of others in their household and may not regularly share financial information.
Previously, data on household food insecurity in Scotland had been collected by the Scottish Health Survey. The measure in this report is different from the one from the Scottish Health Survey, because it is based on different questions, which are asked in a different context, using a different sample of the population, and refer to a different period of time. Therefore, these measures cannot be directly compared.
Dependent children
In this publication, ‘child’ refers to a dependent child. A dependent child is a person aged 0-15, or a person aged 16-19 and: not married nor in a Civil Partnership nor living with a partner, and living with their parents, and in full-time non-advanced education or in unwaged government training.
Single parents
Family types are becoming increasingly complex. In this publication, ‘single parents’ and ‘single mothers’ refer to a situation where the primary residence of a dependent child is in a family with one adult. Data for single fathers is not available due to small sample sizes. This family type does not necessarily imply that the child only has contact with one parent. The child may have non-resident parents who contribute to their welfare. Income transfers from a non-resident parent to the resident parent (such as Child Maintenance payments) are included in the household income.
It is also possible that a single parent family shares a household with another family, for example the child’s grandparents. Income from all household members contribute to the household income and determine whether the household is in poverty.
Household head
The head of the household is the adult with the highest income. If two adults have the same income, it is the older person.
Find more information
Tables and further analysis
This publication contains the headline poverty, child poverty and household income statistics. Associated tables are available for download and contain:
all estimates used in the charts
additional relative and severe poverty and child poverty estimates including numbers, rates and compositions of those in poverty disaggregated by a wide range of personal and household characteristics such as:
- housing tenure
- family type
- economic status
- urban / rural area
- Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation decile
- number of children in household
- child age
Additional analysis themes are based on the needs of users. If you have any suggestions for future analysis please contact us.
Local poverty analysis
The main poverty data source, the Family Resources Survey, provides information at national level only. Alternative data sources are not directly comparable with the official poverty estimates presented in this report.
More information on local poverty and income analysis from alternative data sources is available.
Persistent poverty
New figures on persistent poverty were published on 23 March 2023.
Persistent poverty identifies the number of individuals living in relative poverty for 3 or more of the last 4 years. It therefore identifies people who have been living in poverty for a significant period of time, the rationale being that this is more damaging than brief periods spent with a low income, with the impacts affecting an individual through their lifetime.
One of the four statutory child poverty target measures is persistent child poverty after housing costs.
These figures come from the Understanding Society survey which tracks individuals over time. The persistent poverty figures are not directly comparable to the figures in this publication as they use different income definitions and cover different time periods, but they provide useful additional information on poverty in Scotland.
Previous reports
Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland
Persistent Poverty in Scotland
Scottish Government websites
Further analysis based on the FRS and HBAI datasets is published by the Scottish Government throughout the year on the Scottish Government’s poverty and child poverty statistics webpages. These and other Scottish Government statistics are available here:
National Statistics
Official and National Statistics are produced to high professional standards set out in the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Both undergo regular quality assurance reviews to ensure that they meet customer needs and are produced free from any political interference.
Statistics assessed, or subject to assessment, by the UK Statistics Authority carry the National Statistics label, a stamp of assurance that the statistics have been produced and explained to high standards and that they serve the public good.
The designation of these statistics as National Statistics was confirmed in May 2012 following a compliance check by the Office for Statistics Regulation.
Access source data
The data collected for this report cannot be made available by Scottish Government for further analysis, as the Scottish Government is not the data controller. However, the data controller (the UK Department for Work and Pensions) are making the data available through the UK Data Service.
Contact
For enquiries about this publication please contact the lead statistician.
Maike Waldmann
Communities Analysis Division
Address
The Scottish Government
Communities Analysis Division
Area 2H North
Victoria Quay
Edinburgh EH6 6QQ
Phone
0131 244 7714
If you would like to be consulted about statistical collections or receive notification of publications, please register your interest at ScotStat.
Details of forthcoming publications are regularly published.
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