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Children: Poverty

Answer

The most common measure of low income used to capture poverty and the measure preferred by the Government is individuals living in households with an income below 60 per cent. of contemporary median income, adjusted to take account of family size and composition. Analysis of low income households can be found in the annual National Statistics publication, Households Below Average Income (HBAI).Available information is shown in the following tables.

Table 1: Number and proportion of children in relative low income households (Before Housing Costs)
		Number of children in the family
		Three or more	Four or more
Coverage		Number in relative low income households (millions)	Percentage of all children in relative low income households	Percentage of all children	Number in relative low income households (millions)	Percentage of all children in relative low income house holds	Percentage of all children
GB	1997-98	1.7	49	13	0.7	22	6
	1998-99	1.7	50	13	0.7	22	6
	1999-2000	1.5	47	12	0.7	22	6
	2000-01	1.4	46	11	0.6	21	5
	2001-02	1.3	45	10	0.6	19	4
UK	2002-03	1.3	44	10	0.5	18	4
	2003-04	1.2	42	9	0.5	19	4
	2004-05	1.1	41	9	0.5	20	4
	2005-06	1.1	41	9	0.5	17	4
Source: Households Below Average Income, 1997-98 to 2005-06.

Table 2: Number and proportion of children in relative low income households (After Housing Costs)
		Number of children in the family
		Three or more	Four or more
Coverage		Number in relative low income households (millions)	Percentage of all children in relative low income households	Percentage of all children	Number in relative low income households (millions)	Percentage of all children in relative low income households	Percentage of all children
GB	1997-98	1.9	45	15	0.8	19	6
	1998-99	2.0	45	15	0.8	19	6
	1999-2000	1.9	45	15	0.8	20	7
	2000-01	1.7	44	14	0.7	18	5
	2001-02	1.7	43	13	0.7	18	5
UK	2002-03	1.6	41	12	0.6	16	5
	2003-04	1.5	40	12	0.7	18	5
	2004-05	1.4	39	11	0.6	17	5
	2005-06	1.4	38	11	0.6	15	4
Notes: 1. The reference period for HBAI figures is single financial years. 2. A child is defined as anyone aged under 16 or an unmarried 16 to 18-year-old in full-time non-advanced education. 3. A family is defined as a single adult or a couple living as married and any dependant children. 4. The information shown in Tables 1 and 2 is for the United Kingdom from 2002-03 to 2005-06, and for Great Britain for 1997-98 to 2001-02. 5. The income measures used to derive the estimates shown employ the same methodology as the Department for Work and Pensions publication ““Households Below Average Income”” (HBAI) series, which uses disposable household income, adjusted (or ““equivalised””) for household size and composition, as an income measure as a proxy for standard of living. 6. The figures are based on OECD equalisation factors. 7. Figures have been presented on both a Before Housing Cost and After Housing Cost basis. For Before Housing Cost, housing costs (such as rent, water rates, mortgage interest payments, structural insurance payments and ground rent and service charges) are not deducted from income, while for After Housing Cost they are. This means that After Housing Cost incomes will generally be lower than Before Housing Cost. 8. Numbers of children have been rounded to the nearest 100,000 children, while proportions of children have been rounded to the nearest percentage point. 9. Small year-on-year movements should be treated with caution as these will be affected by sampling error and variability in non-response. Source: Households Below Average Income, 1997-98 to 2005-06.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

476 c575-8W; 204649

Session

2007-08

Subjects

Children Poverty

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk