People in low income households

Published 29 September 2020

Last updated 29 September 2020 - see all updates

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Contents

1. Main facts and figures

• between April 2008 and March 2019, people in Pakistani and Bangladeshi households were consistently the most likely out of all ethnic groups to live in low income households
• people in White British households were consistently the least likely to live in low income households
• a household is in low income if it has less than 60% of the UK’s median income – in the year ending March 2019, a couple with no children were in low income if their income was under £16,100 a year before housing costs or £14,000 after housing costs

2. Things you need to know

What the data measures

This data shows the percentage of people living in households in low income in the UK.

Households are classed as being in low income if they live on less than 60% of the average (median) net disposable equivalised UK household income.

In the year ending March 2019, average annual household income was around £26,800 before housing costs and £23,300 after housing costs.

Therefore, a household made up of a couple with no children would be in low income with an annual household income of up to £16,100 before housing costs and £14,000 after housing costs.

Household income is the total income of the household before tax, National Insurance and other deductions. It includes the value of free school meals, free TV licences and other income-based entitlements.

The data measures income before and after housing costs have been paid. Housing costs include rent or mortgage payments and insurance.

The information 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.

Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number. Due to this, some figures may not add up to 100%.

Not included in the data

Percentages based on fewer than 100 responses are not shown. This is to protect people’s confidentiality.

The ethnic groups used in the data

The data uses the ethnic categories from the 2011 Census.

Data is aggregated for each of the Black, Mixed and Other ethnic groups, which means estimates are shown for these groups as a whole. Data is shown separately for White British and all other White people (‘White Other’ ethnic group).

Some households contain people from different ethnic backgrounds. The ethnicity assigned to the household is that of the head of the household (usually the person with the highest income). The data does not account for people of different ethnic backgrounds who live in the same household.

Methodology

Read the detailed methodology document (PDF opens in a new window or tab) for the data on this page.

Data for 3 years has been combined to make sure estimates are reliable. You can read more about combining multiple years of data and some of the issues involved.

Confidence intervals have not been worked out, so comparisons between ethnic groups may not be reliable.

Household income has been adjusted (or ‘equivalised’) to take into account the number of adults and children who live there.

The figures on this page are based on survey data. You can read more about:

• interpreting survey data
• how weighting is used to make survey results more representative of the whole population

In the data file

Download the data for figures for each 3-year period covered by this data analysed by ethnicity and age group.

3. By ethnicity

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: April 2016 to March 2019 (3-year average)
• Source: Households Below Average Income: 1994/95 to 2018/19

Percentage of people living in households in low income, by ethnicity of the household

Ethnicity	Before Housing Costs	After Housing Costs
	%	%
All	17	22
Asian	27	37
Bangladeshi	31	53
Chinese	27	34
Indian	17	24
Pakistani	40	46
Asian other	25	41
Black	27	42
Mixed	19	34
White	15	19
White British	15	19
White other	16	27
Other	25	40

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of People in low income households By ethnicity Summary

The data shows that:

• people in Pakistani households were the most likely of all ethnic groups to be in low income before housing costs (40%)
• people in Bangladeshi households were the most likely of all ethnic groups to be in low income after housing costs (53%)
• people in White British households were the least likely to be in low income (15% before housing costs, and 19% after housing costs)

4. By ethnicity over time (before housing costs)

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: April 2008 to March 2019 (3-year averages)
• Source: Households Below Average Income: 1994/95 to 2018/19

Percentage of people living in households in low income (before housing costs), by ethnicity of the household over time

Ethnicity	2008/09 to 2010/11	2009/10 to 2011/12	2010/11 to 2012/13	2011/12 to 2013/14	2012/13 to 2014/15	2013/14 to 2015/16	2014/15 to 2016/17	2015/16 to 2017/18	2016/17 to 2018/19
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
All	17	16	16	15	16	16	16	17	17
Asian	32	29	29	27	27	27	26	26	27
Bangladeshi	51	42	41	35	38	39	35	33	31
Chinese	21	26	32	31	23	21	21	26	27
Indian	23	20	19	17	20	19	18	17	17
Pakistani	45	44	42	39	38	38	40	39	40
Asian other	22	23	23	21	20	18	18	21	25
Black	29	24	24	25	23	25	25	27	27
Mixed	22	23	20	19	15	19	20	24	19
White	15	15	14	14	14	15	15	15	15
White British	15	15	14	14	14	14	15	15	15
White other	15	16	16	17	16	16	16	16	16
Other	29	28	25	25	25	26	24	27	25

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of People in low income households By ethnicity over time (before housing costs) Summary

The data shows that, before housing costs were paid:

• people in Pakistani or Bangladeshi households were consistently the most likely out of all ethnic groups to be in low income
• people in White British households were consistently the least likely to be in low income
• the percentage of people in Bangladeshi households in low income went down from 51% to 31%, the biggest decrease out of all ethnic groups

5. By ethnicity over time (after housing costs)

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: April 2008 to March 2019 (3-year averages)
• Source: Households Below Average Income: 1994/95 to 2018/19

Percentage of people living in households in low income (after housing costs), by ethnicity of the household over time

Ethnicity	2008/09 to 2010/11	2009/10 to 2011/12	2010/11 to 2012/13	2011/12 to 2013/14	2012/13 to 2014/15	2013/14 to 2015/16	2014/15 to 2016/17	2015/16 to 2017/18	2016/17 to 2018/19
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
All	22	21	21	21	21	21	22	22	22
Asian	41	39	39	37	36	35	35	36	37
Bangladeshi	63	53	57	52	52	50	49	50	53
Chinese	31	40	46	49	38	35	29	33	34
Indian	30	27	25	24	26	24	24	23	24
Pakistani	52	52	48	46	44	46	48	46	46
Asian other	41	41	42	38	35	32	33	38	41
Black	42	39	39	41	40	40	42	42	42
Mixed	36	40	38	34	26	29	32	36	34
White	20	19	19	19	19	19	20	20	19
White British	19	19	18	18	19	19	19	19	19
White other	27	28	28	29	27	28	28	28	27
Other	42	42	40	41	44	46	44	42	40

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of People in low income households By ethnicity over time (after housing costs) Summary

The data shows that, after housing costs were paid:

• people in Bangladeshi and Pakistani households were consistently the most likely out of all ethnic groups to be in low income
• people in White British households were consistently the least likely to be in low income
• the percentage of people in Bangladeshi households in low income went down from 63% to 53%, the biggest decrease out of all ethnic groups

6. By ethnicity and age group (before housing costs)

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: April 2016 to March 2019 (3-year average)
• Source: Households Below Average Income: 1994/95 to 2018/19

Percentage of people living in households in low income (before housing costs), by ethnicity of the household and age group

Ethnicity	All	Children	Working-age	Pensioners
	%	%	%	%
All	17	21	15	18
Asian	27	32	25	31
Bangladeshi	31	41	27
Chinese	27	32	25
Indian	17	17	16	32
Pakistani	40	45	36	45
Asian other	25	27	24
Black	27	29	25	23
Mixed	19	28	16
White	15	18	14	17
White British	15	17	14	17
White other	16	23	13	21
Other	25	33	21

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of People in low income households By ethnicity and age group (before housing costs) Summary

Estimates are shown for the following age groups:

• children – under 16 years old, or 16 to 19 years old if they are living with their parents, in full-time education or training, and not married or in a civil partnership
• working age – 16 years old to State Pension age
• pensioner – State Pension age or over

The data shows that, before housing costs were paid:

• in every age group, people in Pakistani households were the most likely of all ethnic groups to be in low income – children (45%), working age people (36%) and pensioners (45%)
• pensioners and children in White British households were the least likely to be in low income (both 17%)
• among working age people, those in White Other households were the least likely to be in low income (13%)

7. By ethnicity and age group (after housing costs)

• Location: United Kingdom
• Time period: April 2016 to March 2019 (3-year average)
• Source: Households Below Average Income: 1994/95 to 2018/19

Percentage of people living in households in low income (after housing costs), by ethnicity of the household and age group

Ethnicity	All	Children	Working-age	Pensioners
	%	%	%	%
All	22	30	21	16
Asian	37	45	34	33
Bangladeshi	53	67	47
Chinese	34	34	33
Indian	24	27	22	31
Pakistani	46	53	43	48
Asian other	41	50	37
Black	42	47	41	30
Mixed	34	49	28
White	19	26	19	15
White British	19	25	18	15
White other	27	36	24	23
Other	40	50	37

Data withheld because a small sample size makes it unreliable

Download table data (CSV) Source data (CSV)

Summary of People in low income households By ethnicity and age group (after housing costs) Summary

Estimates are shown for the following age groups:

• children – under 16 years old, or 16 to 19 years old if they are living with their parents, in full-time education or training, and not married or in a civil partnership
• working age – 16 years old to State Pension age
• pensioner – State Pension age or over

The data shows that, after housing costs were paid:

• people in Bangladeshi households were the most likely out of all ethnic groups to be in low income among children (67%) and working age people (47%)
• among pensioners, people in Pakistani households were the most likely to be in low income (48%)
• in every age group, people in White British households were the least likely to be in low income – children (25%), working age people (18%) and pensioners (15%)

8. Data sources

Source

Households Below Average Income: 1994/95 to 2018/19

Type of data

Survey data

Type of statistic

National Statistics

Publisher

Department for Work and Pensions

Note on corrections or updates

Any 3-year estimates before the period from April 2012 to March 2015 may be different to the published Households Below Average Income tables due to a change in the ethnic groups shown.

Publication frequency

Yearly

Purpose of data source

Households Below Average Income is the main source of data about household income and inequality in the UK.

9. Download the data

Households in Low Income data - Spreadsheet (csv) 239 KB

This file contains the following: measure before housing costs, measure after housing costs, ethnicity, year, age group, value, geography

Publication release date: 29 September 2020

Updated: 29 September 2020

full page history

1. 29 September 2020 Updated 2 bullet points in 'By ethnicity and age group (before housing costs)' so they are written in lower case.
2. 29 September 2020 First published

From: Department for Work and Pensions

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