Trends in material deprivation
About 2 mins
Key points
- In 2024/25 more than 1 in 8 children are experiencing material deprivation and living in a low-income household, and more than 1 in 20 children are experiencing material deprivation and living in a household with a severely low income.
- In 2024/25 almost 1 in 8 pensioners are experiencing material deprivation.
Lacking access to essential items that provide a basic standard of living and level of social participation – such as a warm winter coat, a filling meal, or adequate heating for the home – can directly affect health, independently of income. This material deprivation is much more strongly associated with someone experiencing poor health and lacking resources for an extended period. Time spent without adequate resources has implications for both long-term and short-term health.
This chart shows the percentage of children identified as being materially deprived and living in a household with either low income or severely low income, and the percentage of pensioners identified as materially deprived in the UK, between 2004/05 and 2024/25. Low income for children is defined as living in a household with a net household income, below 70% of the median, and severe low income is below 50%, both before housing costs.
- Between 2011/12 and 2019/20, there was a general decrease in material deprivation for pensioners and children on low incomes compared to a slight increase for children in severe low income.
- Due to data changes, it is hard to compare long term trends in material deprivation. COVID-19 affected measurement in 2021/22 and in 2023/24 the material deprivation measure was updated, meaning results from 2023/24 onwards are not directly comparable with previous years.
- Between 2023/24 and 2024/25 the percentage of children identified as being materially deprived and living in a household with either low income or severely low income remained relatively stable.
- In 2024/25, 12.1% of pensioners were in material deprivation compared to 10.7% in 2023/24, this represents an increase of 0.2 million pensioners.
- The number of children living in households with severely low income and affected by material deprivation is particularly concerning, given the link between poverty in childhood and worse health in childhood and adulthood.
Wider poverty measures are crucial to consider in addition to income measures because they capture changes and nuances in the lived experience of people already below the poverty threshold.
- The data presented here are weighted estimates from the Family Resources Survey published by the Department for Work and Pensions.
- Material deprivation is defined as lacking access to essential items: (1) For children these items include warm winter coats, leisure equipment, and social participation costs, such as attending school trips; (2) for pensioners these items include having a filling meal every day, a sufficiently heated home, and being able to attend a social engagement once a month.
- The items are assigned a weighting based on how often they are lacking. If a person lacks an item that most families do not lack, it has a higher weight than an item most families also lack. Read more about the methodology.
- For children, the material deprivation measure is combined with a measure of household income. Low income for children is defined as living in a household with a net household income, before housing costs, below 70% of the median. Severe low income is defined as living in a household with a net household income, before housing costs, below 50% of the median.
- Pensioners are defined as individuals above State Pension age at the time of interview. Children are dependents under the age of 16 years or aged 16 to 19 and in school or non-advanced further education, not married, and living with a parent.
- The category ‘pensioner’ is the technical term used in the statistics produced by the Department for Work and Pensions. ‘Pensioner’ is not our preferred wording at the Health Foundation but is accurate to use in this context.
- The measure of material deprivation for children changed in 2010/11, when four new components were introduced which created a break in the series. Further changes to the measure were introduced in 2023/24 creating another break in the series.
- Measures for pensioners were available from 2009/10.
- Data for 2020/21 are not included, in line with the Department for Work and Pensions’ guidance related to data quality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data for 2021/22 have also been affected by the pandemic and are subject to additional uncertainty.
- From 2021/22 onwards, administrative benefit data has been integrated with the Family Resources Survey instead of using survey benefit data. Data before and after 2021/22 are not directly comparable.
