The facts about poverty in the UK
* How many people in the UK live in poverty?
* How were these figures calculated?
* What kind of poverty are people living in?
* How long do people live in poverty for?
* What kinds of people are more at risk?
* How many people in the UK are poor today compared to in the past?
* How does poverty in the UK compare to poverty in other parts of the world?
* How do the UK public see poverty?
* What is the government doing about it?
How many people in the UK live in poverty?
Just under 1 in 4 people in the UK – or nearly 13 million people – live in poverty, according to the latest figures. This includes nearly 1 in 3 children (almost 4 million).1
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How were these figures calculated?
Poverty is measured here as below 60 per cent of contemporary median net disposable income in 2000/01. This is the ‘poverty line’ which has been accepted recently across the European Union to measure the extent of poverty in member states; it is not the same as a comprehensive definition of poverty, which includes many other dimensions. These figures look at incomes in Great Britain, after housing costs have been paid, and include the self-employed.
These figures don’t mean very much by themselves -- they only refer to low incomes relative to the rest of the population in the UK. They don’t tell us much about the many different aspects of poverty and the way people experience it.
And they are a snapshot: they don’t tell us how long people live in poverty.
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What kinds of poverty are people living in?
One recent survey showed that about 6.5 million adults go without essential clothing, such as a warm waterproof coat, because of lack of money.
Over 10.5 million people live in financial insecurity: they can’t afford to save, insure their house contents, or spend even small amounts on themselves. About 9.5 million can’t afford adequate housing – heated, free from damp, and in a decent state of decoration. The crucial factor about these findings is that they are based on a survey of what the general population sees as necessities.2
We also know what a dark shadow poverty casts, particularly over children’s lives and their futures. Eighteen per cent of children go without two or more items that the majority of the population says are necessities, such as adequate clothing, toys, or three meals a day.3
One in five non-working families on low or moderate incomes reported being unable to afford some basic food items on most days in 2000.4
Children from poor homes are more likely to die as a baby or a child, and have lower life expectancy overall. They also have a greater likelihood of bad health, a greater risk of unemployment, and a lower chance of high educational achievement.5
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How long do people live in poverty for?
Poverty is likely to last longer for young children in particular.6 Overall, a recent survey found that about half of all individuals in the bottom fifth of income spent 6 or more years there out of ten.
Whilst people do move out of poverty, many do not move very far, and many more experience poverty sometimes.7
Long-term poverty can eat away at people’s savings and assets, leaving them more vulnerable: between 1979 and 1996, the number of households without any assets doubled to 1 in 10.8 It costs more to borrow money if you don’t have much to begin with.
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What kinds of people are more at risk?
Groups in the UK at greater risk of poverty include women, as well as children: nearly 1 in 4 women lived in poverty in 1999/2000, compared with 1 in 5 men – even before taking account of the ‘hidden poverty’ that may exist in households where income and other resources are not shared fairly.9
Minority ethnic groups in the UK are often more vulnerable to poverty, in particular Pakistanis/ Bangladeshis, more than two-thirds of whom were living in poverty in 2000/01. Some groups, such as asylum-seekers, also have to live on lower benefit levels.
Just under two-thirds of individuals in households containing adults of working age who had no paid work were living in poverty in 2000/01. And those in some regions were much more likely to be poor than those in other areas.10
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How many people in the UK are poor today compared to in the past?
Bigger percentages have been poor, and poverty has been more severe, in the past; but because of the larger population, more people live in poverty today measured by the standards of today.11
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How does poverty in the UK compare to poverty in other parts of the world?
Oxfam does not argue that the extent or depth of poverty in the UK is similar to that in developing countries.
But not all those living in the wealthier countries of the world fulfil the stereotype of the rich, privileged consumer. Some have been left behind, living in a parallel financial universe, often budgeting on a weekly cash basis, with no bank account, few local shops, and constantly juggling bills and debts.
Through their resilience, by making a supreme effort, and by learning from experience, people may get by.12 But every coping strategy has its costs. It is women who often take on the burden of managing the family budget, putting others’ needs before their own and undermining their physical and mental health by doing so.
Oxfam also believes that the underlying causes of poverty, and the ways poverty affects people’s lives, in the north and south of the world are very similar. Inequalities of power and wealth, and a lack of political will to put the fight against poverty top of the agenda, underpin the reality of continuing poverty in countries all over the world. And the way people living in poverty are treated by others, and often have no voice in decisions affecting their lives, is similar in the UK and elsewhere.
‘Poverty strips you of your dignity.’
‘Poverty affects your self-esteem, your confidence … You feel totally powerless.’13
The United Nations Development Programme sees poverty as a lack of capabilities to live a long, healthy and creative life, to be knowledgeable, and to enjoy a decent standard of living, dignity, self-respect, and the respect of others. It sees a ‘life of respect and value’ as a key aim of human development.14
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How do the UK public see poverty?
People living in poverty the world over often feel their voice is not heard and their dignity is not respected. The public in the UK has tended to be more judgmental about those living in poverty than people in many other countries – being more likely to say, for example, that poverty is due to ‘laziness and lack of will-power’, rather than to ‘injustice in our society’.15
They also often think that many people on benefit have enough money to live on; but when they are told the actual amounts (£53.95 per week for everything except housing costs and council tax for a single unemployed person, for example),16 they are more likely to acknowledge the existence of real poverty amongst this group.17
Also, the experience of unemployment and poverty amongst friends and family tends to make people more likely to see poverty as primarily due to structural reasons, rather than the fault of individuals themselves.
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What is the government doing about it?
The prime minister has set out his commitment to ending child poverty in a generation.18 The numbers of those living in poverty have started to decline over recent years. But there is still some way to go to make a significant impact on the dramatic increase in poverty and inequality in the UK since the late 1970s.
As the Labour government has started to recognise, one of the crucial ingredients in tackling poverty is public support. Recognition and understanding amongst the general public of the seriousness of the problem, and a determination to do something about it, will be essential to a sustainable long-term strategy to eradicate poverty in the UK, as it is in all those countries in which Oxfam works.
