London's low income population

London's low income population by age

What does this graph show?

This graph looks at how the composition of the low-income population has changed in London over the last ten years.

London has seen a slight rise in the total number of people in low-income households, from around 2 million to around 2.1 million. The rise is quite small, and must be considered against a rising population, but the composition of the low-income population has changed quite substantially. Most notably, the number of people in Inner London living in low-income households has fallen, whilst the number in Outer London has risen. Outer London now has over half (56%) of London's low-income population, up from 54% since the last Poverty Profile was published. At the end of the 1990s the numbers were more evenly split between Inner and Outer London.

The 260,000 children in poverty in Inner London represent a fall of around 70,000. In Outer London, the number has actually grown by 30,000 to 370,000. So while there are now fewer children in poverty than there were at the turn of the decade, this is entirely due to the fall in Inner London.

There are also fewer pensioners in poverty than there were ten years ago. The number of pensioners in low-income households fell in Inner London from 150,000 to 90,000 and in Outer London from 170,000 to 140,000. So the fall in Inner London was much steeper.

For working-age adults, though, the numbers in poverty have grown in both Inner and Outer London. In Inner London, there are now 560,000 working-age adults in low-income households, up from 510,000 a decade ago. This may seem odd in the light of the falling rate of working-age poverty in Inner London observed above, but Inner London's working-age population has risen substantially over the same period, from approximately 1.7 million to approximately 2 million. This growth in the population has more than counteracted the reduction in poverty rate, meaning the number of working-age adults in poverty actually rose.

In Outer London, the number of working-age adults in low-income households now stands at 670,000, up from 520,000 at the end of the 1990s. This increase is a combination of both a growing population and an increasing poverty risk.

This rise in working-age poverty reflects national trends - whilst child and pensioner poverty have fallen across the UK in the last decade or so, working-age poverty has risen everywhere. Because of this rise, there were more people in poverty in London at the end of the 2000s than there were at the beginning.

There are, though, fewer people living in low-income households in Inner London. This fall, combined with the large rise in working-age poverty and the smaller rise in child poverty in Outer London, means that more people live in low-income households in Outer London than Inner London.

Data used

Households Below Average Income (HBAI) Survey, DWP, average for 1997/98 to 1999/2000 and 2006/07 to 2008/09

Indicator last updated: 8 October 2010

Other indicators in Children

• Poverty in Inner and Outer London
• Child ill health
• Infant deaths by borough
• Attainment at age 11 by borough
• Free school meals and attainment at age 11
• Households in temporary accommodation
• Underage conception by borough
• Children in workless households over time
• Attainment at age 11 by region
• Families receiving in-work benefits
• Child, adult and pensioner poverty
• Child poverty and work
• Child and adult poverty and work

Other indicators in Pensioners

• Poverty in Inner and Outer London
• Pensioners receiving the Pension Credit Guarantee
• Unemployment in London by age
• Child, adult and pensioner poverty

Other indicators in Working-age adults

• Poverty in Inner and Outer London
• Working-age out-of-work benefits by region
• Working age out-of-work benefits within London
• Income inequality in London compared with other English regions
• Income inequalities within London boroughs
• Pay inequalities within London
• Working-age adults lacking work over time
• Working-age adults lacking work by borough
• Adult ill health
• Adult ill-health by borough
• Low-paid residents by borough
• Low-paid jobs by borough
• Low income and ethnicity in London
• Lacking work by ethnicity
• Not working by country of birth
• Not working by ethnicity and country of birth
• Low pay by ethnicity
• Premature death by borough
• Low-paid residents by region
• Low-paid jobs by sub-region
• Families receiving in-work benefits
• Working age out-of-work benefits by borough
• Unemployment rates over time
• Unemployment numbers by sub-region
• Unemployment by ethnicity, country of birth and gender
• Unemployment in London by age
• Part-time work
• Job Seeker's Allowance by region
• Job Seeker's Allowance by borough
• Child, adult and pensioner poverty
• Child and adult poverty and work
• Recession impact on out-of-work benefits
• Young adult unemployment over time

View all indicators