Poverty Lines
There is no clear consensus in politics or academia on how to measure poverty. It can be defined in absolute terms or in relation to the average income or living standard. It can be measured by income level or in terms of deprivation, ie. not possessing or having access to goods or services.
The most commonly used definition is that someone is in poverty if they live in a household with an income which is less than half the average or 60 per cent of the median income for the country they live in. This is a relative measure which changes over time. It is based on the idea that someone with such a low income is unlikely to be able to participate in mainstream society.
The poverty lines produced using this measure depend on the size of a household, since a single adult needs less to live on than a family with two children. To take account of this, official statistics use 'equivalence scales'. Listed below are the poverty lines calculated for different households.
The figures refer to disposable income - income after the deduction of taxes and National Insurance contributions, and including receipt of state benefits, pensions and maintenance. Different figures are given for income both before and after housing costs ('BHC' and 'AHC') to allow for the potentially distorting effects of Housing Benefit, which can have a big impact on low income groups.
|
Poverty Lines 2000 |
|
Poverty line(£ per week, BHC) |
Poverty line(£ per week, AHC) |
Single adult |
£103 |
£80 |
Couple with no children |
£170 |
£146 |
|
Couple with 3 children aged under 12 |
£281 |
£244 |
Source: Households Below Average Incomes 2000 (DSS)
Using this measure, there are nearly 12 million people in poverty in the UK. Of these, 3.5 million live in households with one income from full- or part-time employment. The working poor represent a larger group than the unemployed or pensioner poor.
|
Individuals in working households falling below the poverty lines 1999/2000 |
|
Numbers (millions) |
per cent of those in poverty |
Single or couple in full-time work |
0.4 |
3 |
One working F-T, one P-T |
0.3 |
4 |
|
One working, one not working |
1.3 |
20 |
|
One or more in P-T work |
1.5 |
33 |
Source: LPU calculations using Households Below Average Incomes 1999/2000 (DSS)
|
Percentage of each household group with income below 60 of the median (after housing costs)1994/5 to 1999/2000 |
|
1994/5 |
1999/2000 |
Single or couple in full-time work |
2 |
3 |
Couple, one working F-T, one P-T |
3 |
4 |
|
Family, one working F-T, one not working |
15 |
20 |
|
Family, one or more in P-T work |
27 |
33 |
Source: LPU calculations using Households Below Average Incomes 1994/5 to 1999/2000 (DSS)
(This page was last updated in October 2001)
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