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- 1. Navigate to Main facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toPeople living in persistent low income households, before housing costs, by ethnicity and age group section
- 3. Navigate toPeople living in persistent low income households, after housing costs, by ethnicity and age group section
- 4. Navigate to Methodology section
- 5. Navigate to Data sources section
- 6. Navigate to Download the data section
1. Main facts and figures
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in 2014/15, the average ('median') UK income for a couple with no children, before housing costs were paid, was £26,000 – after housing costs were paid, the median UK income was £22,000
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White British and Other White households had the lowest rates of persistent low income compared with all other ethnic groups
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the highest rates of persistent low income were found in households from the Black, Asian and Other ethnic groups
Things you need to know
Understanding Society is a ‘sample survey’: it collects information from a random sample of the population to make generalisations (reach ‘findings’) about the total population.
Keep in mind when making comparisons between ethnic groups that all survey estimates are subject to a degree of uncertainty. This is because they are based on a sample of the population. The degree of uncertainty is greater when the number of respondents is small, so it will be highest for ethnic minority groups.
Results taken from a low number of responses are more likely to be affected by statistical variation, so observed changes might not reflect real differences. As such, caution is needed when interpreting short-term trends in the data, especially for sub-groups (for example, a specific ethnic group, age group and gender).
What the data measures
This data measures households which have ‘persistently low income’ – that is, they’ve been categorised as having low income for 3 out of the 4 years surveyed.
A household can be one person living alone or a group of people living at the same address sharing a kitchen and either a living room, sitting room or dining area.
This measure compares a household’s income to the median income of the UK (the UK’s median income is the income in the middle of the range of all incomes arranged in order of size from lowest to highest).
Two types of median income are used in this measure:
- median income before housing costs are paid (in the UK in 2014/15, this was £26,000)
- median income after housing costs are paid (in the UK, in 2014/15 this was £22,000)
Households are classed as having low income if they live on less than 60% of the UK’s median income.
The data shows who falls beneath this threshold both before and after housing costs have been paid.
The before housing costs (BHC) and after housing costs (AHC) show how the cost of housing has a greater or lesser impact on different groups. For example, pensioners, who may have paid off their mortgages, tend to spend a smaller proportion of their income on housing than people of working age.
For people of working age the picture is different. Given that the UK’s median income before housing costs (BHC) was £26,000 in 2014/15, a working age person earning £17,000 would be earning more than 60% of median income BHC and would not be classed as having low income.
However, after housing costs (AHC) the UK’s median income 2014/15 was £22,000. The same person, paying a monthly rent of £500 out of their salary of £17,000, would then be on an income of £11,000, putting them below the threshold for low income.
Income measured after housing costs also deducts housing costs paid for by housing benefit. Before housing costs, this benefit may appear to represent an increase in income, but in fact goes straight to the payment of housing costs.
In a household headed by a single person, income will go further than in a household containing adults and children. For this reason, household incomes are adjusted (or ‘equivalised’) during the statistical calculation to take into account the number of adults and children who live there. The income amounts used in this data correspond to a couple with no children. See Income Dynamics Background information and methodology (PDF opens in a new window or tab) (PDF) for more detail.
The data comes from the Department for Work and Pensions’ analysis of the Understanding Society survey run by the University of Essex.
Some households contain people from different ethnic backgrounds. In these circumstances, the ethnic background of the 'household reference person' (the person in whose name the dwelling is owned or rented or who is otherwise responsible for the accommodation) is used to define the ethnic background of the household.
The ethnic categories used in this data
For this data, the number of people surveyed (the ‘sample size’) was too small to draw any firm conclusions about detailed ethnic categories.
Therefore, the data is broken down into the following 6 broad ethnic groups:
- Asian/Asian British
- Black/Black British
- Mixed/Multiple ethnic groups
- White British
- White Other (White ethnic minorities)
- Other
2. People living in persistent low income households, before housing costs, by ethnicity and age group
| Ethnicity | All | Children | Working-age adults | Pensioners |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | |
| Asian | 18 | 25 | 14 | 14 |
| Black | 16 | 20 | 14 | 9 |
| Mixed | 10 | 11 | 10 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| White British | 9 | 10 | 7 | 12 |
| White other | 8 | 8 | 6 | 15 |
| Other | 20 | 27 | 17 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
Download table data for ‘People living in persistent low income households, before housing costs, by ethnicity and age group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘People living in persistent low income households, before housing costs, by ethnicity and age group’ (CSV)
Summary of Low income People living in persistent low income households, before housing costs, by ethnicity and age group Summary
This data shows that:
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overall, people from the Asian, Black and Other ethnic groups were all more likely to live in low income households (calculated before housing costs were deducted) than people from the White British and Other White ethnic groups
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children from the Asian, Black and Other ethnic groups were more likely to live in households with a low income (at 25%, 20% and 27% respectively), compared with children from White British (10%) and Other White (8%) households
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working age adults from the Other White and White British ethnic groups were least likely to live in households with a low income, at 6% and 7% respectively
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out of the ethnic groups for whom data was available, the Other White group had the highest percentage of pensioners on low income (15%)
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the Other ethnic group had the highest percentage of children (27%) and working age adults (17%) on a low income
3. People living in persistent low income households, after housing costs, by ethnicity and age group
| Ethnicity | All | Children | Working-age adults | Pensioners |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | |
| Asian | 22 | 31 | 20 | 5 |
| Black | 25 | 31 | 22 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| Mixed | 17 | 22 | 16 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
| White British | 11 | 15 | 10 | 8 |
| White other | 15 | 18 | 14 | 10 |
| Other | 31 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 29 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable |
Download table data for ‘People living in persistent low income households, after housing costs, by ethnicity and age group’ (CSV) Source data for ‘People living in persistent low income households, after housing costs, by ethnicity and age group’ (CSV)
Summary of Low income People living in persistent low income households, after housing costs, by ethnicity and age group Summary
This data shows that:
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overall, a higher percentage of households were classed as having low income after housing costs were paid, compared with the calculation before housing costs were paid
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people from the Other ethnic group were the most likely to be in low income households after housing costs were paid, at 31%
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people from the White British ethnic group were the least likely to be in low income households after housing costs were paid, at 11%
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children from the Asian and Black ethnic groups were most likely to live in low income households after housing costs were paid, both at 31%
4. Methodology
These statistics are derived from the Understanding Society survey waves 2-6, 2010/2015.
The Understanding Society survey covers the UK. Household members aged 16 or older recruited in the first survey round are visited each year to collect information on changes to their household and individual circumstances.
Interviews are typically carried out face-to-face in respondents’ homes by trained interviewers.
'Equivalisation' adjusts incomes for household size and composition, taking an adult couple with no children as the reference point.
Weights have been applied which take the combined population subsamples, adjusting for unequal selection probabilities, differential non-response, and potential sampling error.
Estimates are subject to sampling error and remaining non-sampling bias.
Surveys gather information from a sample rather than from the whole population. The sample is designed carefully to allow for this, and to be as accurate as possible given practical limitations such as time and cost constraints.
Results from sample surveys are always estimates, not precise figures. This means that they are subject to a margin of error which can affect how changes in the numbers should be interpreted, especially in the short-term. Year-on-year movements should be treated with caution.
Suppression rules and disclosure control
Any values based on fewer than 100 responses have been suppressed to preserve confidentiality.
Rounding
Values are given to the nearest whole percentage.
Quality and methodology information
5. Data sources
Source
Income Dynamics (experimental)
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
Experimental statistics
Publisher
Department for Work and Pensions
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The Income Dynamics statistics are designed to report on income movements and the persistence of low income for various population groups.
Reporting on these issues is required under UK law and the Income Dynamics statistics are intended to supplement the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) publication. The analysis of the Income Dynamics data allows the tracking of changes in income over time for different population groups.
6. Download the data
This file contains the following: ethnicity, year, age group, value and denominator