Persistent low income
Published
- 1. Navigate toMain facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toThings you need to know section
- 3. Navigate to By ethnicity (before housing costs) section
- 4. Navigate to By ethnicity (after housing costs) section
- 5. Navigate to By ethnicity and age group (before housing costs) section
- 6. Navigate to By ethnicity and age group (after housing costs) section
- 7. Navigate to Entering low income (before and after housing costs) section
- 8. Navigate to Leaving low income (before and after housing costs) section
- 9. Navigate toData sources section
- 10. Navigate toDownload the data section
1. Main facts and figures
- between January 2016 and December 2020, people in Asian households were the most likely to be in persistent low income before housing costs out of all ethnic groups
- people in ‘other’ ethnic group households were most likely to be in persistent low income after housing costs, followed by people in black and Asian households
- people in white households were least likely to be in persistent low income, both before and after housing costs
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
The data shows the percentage of people living in households in the UK that are in ‘persistent low income’ before and after housing costs. Housing costs include rent and mortgage interest payments.
Households are in low income if they live on less than 60% of the median income. Median income (before housing costs) was just under £30,000 for a couple with no children in the period from January 2019 to December 2020. Persistent low income means the household had low income for at least 3 out of 4 consecutive survey interviews between January 2016 and December 2020.
Low income entry and exit rates are percentages of households who move into or out of low income across 2 survey waves. Because sample sizes in each 2-wave period are small, the rates presented here are the average across 3 of those 2-wave periods. Read more about how income is measured.
The data relates to households of either one person or a group of people sharing cooking facilities and a living room or dining area. It must be their main or only home.
The data uses the total income brought into the household on a weekly basis by everyone who lives there, after tax, National Insurance and other deductions.
Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.
Not included in the data
Data based on fewer than 100 responses has not been included. Percentages less than 0.5% have been suppressed. This is to protect people’s confidentiality.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for 6 aggregated ethnic groups:
- Asian
- black
- mixed
- white British
- white other
- other
Some households contain people from different ethnic backgrounds. The ethnicity assigned to the household is that of the ‘household reference person' – usually the person with the highest income. The data does not account for people of different ethnic backgrounds who live in the same household.
The number of households surveyed from the mixed and 'other' ethnic groups was smaller than all other ethnic groups. This means that results for these groups may be more variable.
Data for people living in households with unknown ethnicity is included in the estimates for ‘All’.
Methodology
Read the Income Dynamics Background information and methodology note for more information about the data on this page.
Household incomes are adjusted (or ‘equivalised’) to take into account the number of adults and children who live there.
There is large regional variation in ethnic minority populations. There is also regional variation in housing costs. This may mean that some households have bigger differences in their income before and after housing costs than others.
The figures on this page are based on survey data. Find out more about:
- interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people surveyed
- how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the whole group being studied
In the data file
See Download the data for:
- January 2010 to December 2020
- persistent low income estimates based on both 60% and 70% of median income
- persistent low income estimates before and after housing costs
- entries and exits into low income, before and after housing costs
3. By ethnicity (before housing costs)
| Ethnicity | % | Number of respondents |
|---|---|---|
| All | 9 | 24,747 |
| Asian | 18 | 1,901 |
| Black | 13 | 701 |
| Mixed | 6 | 271 |
| White | 9 | 21,122 |
| White British | 9 | 19,963 |
| White other | 8 | 1,159 |
| Other | 11 | 142 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (before housing costs)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (before housing costs)’ (CSV)
Summary of Persistent low income By ethnicity (before housing costs) Summary
The data shows that, before housing costs:
- 18% of people in Asian households, and 13% of people in black households were in persistent low income – the highest percentages out of all ethnic groups
- 6% of people in mixed households were in persistent low income – the lowest percentage out of all ethnic groups
4. By ethnicity (after housing costs)
| Ethnicity | % | Number of respondents |
|---|---|---|
| All | 12 | 24,747 |
| Asian | 23 | 1,901 |
| Black | 24 | 701 |
| Mixed | 18 | 271 |
| White | 11 | 21,122 |
| White British | 11 | 19,963 |
| White other | 13 | 1,159 |
| Other | 31 | 142 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity (after housing costs)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity (after housing costs)’ (CSV)
Summary of Persistent low income By ethnicity (after housing costs) Summary
The data shows that, after housing costs:
- 31% of people in ‘other’ ethnic group households, and 24% of people in black households were in persistent low income – the highest percentages out of all ethnic groups
- 11% of people in white households were in persistent low income – the lowest percentage out of all ethnic groups
5. By ethnicity and age group (before housing costs)
| All | Children | Working-age adults | Pensioners | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | All % | All Number of respondents | Children % | Children Number of respondents | Working-age adults % | Working-age adults Number of respondents | Pensioners % | Pensioners Number of respondents |
| All | 9 | 24,747 | 12 | 5,305 | 7 | 13,468 | 11 | 5,974 |
| Asian | 18 | 1,901 | 28 | 677 | 13 | 1,088 | 12 | 136 |
| Black | 13 | 701 | 18 | 214 | 12 | 401 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 86 |
| Mixed | 6 | 271 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 76 | 8 | 174 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 21 |
| White | 9 | 21,122 | 10 | 4,180 | 7 | 11,350 | 11 | 5,592 |
| White British | 9 | 19,963 | 10 | 3,903 | 7 | 10,705 | 11 | 5,355 |
| White other | 8 | 1,159 | 13 | 277 | 5 | 645 | 10 | 237 |
| Other | 11 | 142 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 48 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 79 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 15 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and age group (before housing costs)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and age group (before housing costs)’ (CSV)
Summary of Persistent low income By ethnicity and age group (before housing costs) Summary
Data based on smaller numbers is less reliable, and percentages for some ethnic groups that are based on small numbers have been suppressed.
The data shows that, before housing costs:
- children in Asian households (28%) were most likely to be in persistent low income, followed by children in black households (18%)
- children in white households (10%) were least likely to be in persistent low income
- working-age adults in Asian (13%) and black (12%) households were more likely to be in persistent low income than those in white households (7%)
- for pensioners, differences between ethnic groups were small, and less data was available because fewer households from this age group were surveyed
6. By ethnicity and age group (after housing costs)
| All | Children | Working-age adults | Pensioners | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | All % | All Number of respondents | Children % | Children Number of respondents | Working-age adults % | Working-age adults Number of respondents | Pensioners % | Pensioners Number of respondents |
| All | 12 | 24,747 | 18 | 5,305 | 11 | 13,468 | 10 | 5,974 |
| Asian | 23 | 1,901 | 35 | 677 | 18 | 1,088 | 9 | 136 |
| Black | 24 | 701 | 29 | 214 | 22 | 401 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 86 |
| Mixed | 18 | 271 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 76 | 18 | 174 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 21 |
| White | 11 | 21,122 | 16 | 4,180 | 10 | 11,350 | 11 | 5,592 |
| White British | 11 | 19,963 | 16 | 3,903 | 10 | 10,705 | 10 | 5,355 |
| White other | 13 | 1,159 | 20 | 277 | 10 | 645 | 13 | 237 |
| Other | 31 | 142 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 48 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 79 | withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable | 15 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity and age group (after housing costs)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity and age group (after housing costs)’ (CSV)
Summary of Persistent low income By ethnicity and age group (after housing costs) Summary
Data based on smaller numbers is less reliable, and percentages for some ethnic groups that are based on small numbers have been suppressed.
The data shows that, after housing costs:
- children in Asian (35%) and black (29%) households were more likely to be in persistent low income than children in white households (16%)
- working-age adults in black (22%), Asian (18%), and mixed (18%) households were more likely to be in persistent low income than those from the white ethnic group (10%)
- pensioners from the white ‘other’ ethnic group (13%) were more likely to be in persistent low income than white British pensioners (10%)
- Asian pensioners (9%) were also less likely to be in persistent low income, but the number of households surveyed in this group was small
7. Entering low income (before and after housing costs)
| Before Housing Costs | After Housing Costs | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Before Housing Costs % | Before Housing Costs Number of Respondents | After Housing Costs % | After Housing Costs Number of Respondents |
| All | 6 | 71,488 | 7 | 69,481 |
| Asian | 11 | 4,668 | 14 | 4,307 |
| Black | 10 | 1,897 | 15 | 1,648 |
| Mixed | 9 | 770 | 14 | 687 |
| White | 6 | 61,641 | 7 | 60,427 |
| White British | 6 | 58,288 | 7 | 57,183 |
| White other | 6 | 3,353 | 7 | 3,244 |
| Other | 8 | 360 | 8 | 297 |
Download table data for ‘Entering low income (before and after housing costs)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Entering low income (before and after housing costs)’ (CSV)
Summary of Persistent low income Entering low income (before and after housing costs) Summary
A person is counted as having entered low income if they moved from not being in low income in one survey period to being in low income in the next survey period. The data shows average rates of low income entry for the surveys that took place between 2016 and 2020.
Although roughly equal numbers of people entered and exited low income, rates of exit were larger than rates of entry. This is because there was a smaller number of households in low income than those who were not.
The data shows that, on average:
- people in Asian (11%) and black households (10%) were more likely to enter into low income before housing costs than all other ethnic groups
- people in black (15%), Asian (14%) and mixed households (14%) were more likely to enter into low income after housing costs
- people in white (6%) and ‘other’ (8%) households were least likely to enter into low income before housing costs
- people in white (7%) and 'other' (8%) households were least likely to enter into low income after housing costs
8. Leaving low income (before and after housing costs)
| Before Housing Costs | After Housing Costs | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethnicity | Before Housing Costs % | Before Housing Costs Number of Respondents | After Housing Costs % | After Housing Costs Number of Respondents |
| All | 37 | 12,815 | 34 | 14,822 |
| Asian | 30 | 2,138 | 28 | 2,499 |
| Black | 43 | 576 | 32 | 825 |
| Mixed | 44 | 167 | 35 | 250 |
| White | 37 | 9,570 | 34 | 10,784 |
| White British | 37 | 9,042 | 34 | 10,147 |
| White other | 43 | 528 | 37 | 637 |
| Other | 22 | 106 | 9 | 169 |
Download table data for ‘Leaving low income (before and after housing costs)’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Leaving low income (before and after housing costs)’ (CSV)
Summary of Persistent low income Leaving low income (before and after housing costs) Summary
A person is counted as having left low income if they moved from being in low income in one survey period to not being in low income in the next survey period. The data shows average rates of leaving low income for the surveys that took place between 2016 and 2020.
Although roughly equal numbers of people entered and exited low income, rates of exit were larger than rates of entry. This is because there was a smaller number of households in low income than those who were not.
The data shows that, on average:
- all ethnic groups were more likely to leave low income before housing costs were paid compared with after they were paid
- people in mixed households (44%) were most likely to leave low income before housing costs, followed by people in black (43%) and white ‘other’ households (43%)
- people in white ‘other’ households (37%) were most likely to leave low income after housing costs
- out of all ethnic groups, people in ‘other’ households were least likely to leave low income both before (22%) and after (9%) housing costs – however, the numbers for this group are too small to make reliable generalisations
9. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
Department for Work and Pensions
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
Income Dynamics statistics are designed to report on income movements and the persistence of low income for various population groups. Reporting on persistent low income rates for children is required under UK law.
Income Dynamics statistics complement Households Below Average Income (HBAI) statistics by providing measures which are based on household income over time. This is because they use data from the longitudinal survey ‘Understanding Society’.
Read more about Income Dynamics.
10. Download the data
This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, year, age group, value, number
This file contains the following: measure, ethnicity, year, value, number