Inequalities in poverty
About 3 mins
Key points
- Single- parents are more than three times as likely to live in poverty than couples without children, both before and after housing costs.
- People in the social rented sector are more than three times as likely to live in poverty than people who own their property with a mortgage, both before and after housing costs.
- People in households headed by a person of Bangladeshi ethnicity are more than three times as likely to live in poverty, after housing costs, than people in households headed by a person of white ethnicity.
Poverty can affect someone’s health when financial resources are insufficient to meet their basic living needs, such as adequate heating for the home, appropriate clothing or adequate nutrition.
This chart shows the percentage of people living in poverty in the UK in 2024/25 and is broken down by different characteristics. Housing costs can make a difference in the likelihood of being in poverty and some groups are more affected than others. It is therefore useful to look at the percentage of people living in persistent poverty after accounting for housing costs.
- Poverty varies by country/region, London has the highest poverty after housing costs (27%) but Wales and Yorkshire and the Humber have the highest poverty before housing costs (both 19%).
- The percentage of people living in poverty after housing costs is 20% for both disabled people and for non-disabled people.
- The percentage of people living in poverty after housing costs is highest for people in households headed by a person of Bangladeshi ethnicity (48%) and lowest for people in households headed by a person of white ethnicity (16%). The percentage of people living in poverty after housing costs in households headed by a person of Indian ethnicity is 29% and 38% in households headed by a person of black, black British, Caribbean or African ethnicity.
- Poverty varies by family type. Before and after housing costs, it is highest among single parents with children (39%) and lowest among couples without children (11%).
- Poverty varies for different family types. Before and after housing costs, poverty is highest for single parents with children (39%) and lowest for couples without children (11%).
- Poverty varies by housing tenure. People in the social rented sector have the highest poverty both before and after housing costs, while people who own their property with a mortgage have the lowest.
Differences by household composition reflect two key dynamics. The first is that households with children tend to have higher poverty rates because there are more people in the household relative to its potential income. The second is that housing costs for a couple can be similar to those of single people, but their income can be double.
The poverty rate for disabled people as a whole is likely to mask significant variation in poverty, partly related to the type of disability someone has. In addition, the standard measure of poverty potentially understates the extent of poverty for many disabled people because their income can be overstated. This is because the measure includes income from benefits designed to cover the additional costs of disability, such as special equipment or higher heating bills, without the costs of such support being accounted for.
Differences by ethnicity largely reflect differences in employment, earnings and housing tenure. For example, the employment rate for people of Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnicity is around 15 percentage points lower than the average, hourly pay is lower and fewer people in these groups own their homes, so have higher housing costs. The poverty rate for most people from minority ethnic backgrounds increases markedly when accounting for housing costs. Worse outcomes – in employment, earnings and housing – reflect a variety of factors, including discrimination in employment and services.
- The data presented here are weighted estimates from the Family Resources Survey published by the Department for Work and Pensions.
- Poverty is defined as a person living in a household with a net household income below 60% of that year’s median.
- Poverty rates are compared on two measures of income. One is net income taking account of tax and benefit payments (before housing costs). The other also takes account of the cost of housing (after housing costs). Housing costs are deducted from income, to reflect that people with lower incomes in particular have fewer options for meeting their housing costs, relative to their income.
- Income is equivalised, which means it is adjusted for household size to reflect economies of scale. For example, a household of four needs more income for the same standard of living as a household of one, but not four times as much.
- Disability is defined as reporting any physical or mental health conditions or illnesses or disabilities that lasts or are expected to last 12 months or more, and that limits someone’s ability to carry out day-to-day activities either a little or a lot.
- Ethnicity and region statistics represent three-year averages.
