In 2022/23, 25 percent of children in the United Kingdom were defined as living in absolute poverty, compared with 17.1 percent of working-age adults, and 12.1 percent of pensioners.

As of 2022/23 approximately 9.5 million people were living in absolute poverty in the United Kingdom, with that number increasing to 12 million when housing costs are considered.

The Children in low-income families' local area statistics (CiLIF), provides information on the number and proportion of children living in Absolute low income by local area across the United Kingdom.The summary Statistical Release and tables which also show the proportions of children living in low income families are available here: Children in low income families: local area statistics - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Statistics on the number of children in low income families by financial year are published on Stat-Xplore. Figures are calibrated to the Households Below Average Income (HBAI) survey regional estimates of children in low income but provide more granular local area information not available from the HBAI, for example by Local Authority, Westminster Parliamentary Constituency and Ward.Absolute low-income is defined as a family in low income Before Housing Costs (BHC) in the reference year in comparison with incomes in 2010/11. A family must have claimed Child Benefit and at least one other household benefit (Universal Credit, tax credits, or Housing Benefit) at any point in the year to be classed as low income in these statistics. Gross income measure is Before Housing Costs (BHC) and includes contributions from earnings, state support and pensions.

Statistical disclosure control has been applied with Stat-Xplore, which guards against the identification of an individual claimant.

Approximately 21.4 percent of individuals in the United Kingdom were defined as living with relative income in 2022/23, after housing costs were considered, with 17.1 percent of people considered as being low-income before housing costs.

As of 2022,/23 approximately 11.4 million people were living in relative poverty in the United Kingdom, with that number increasing to over 14.3 million when housing costs are considered.

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The Millennium Survey of Poverty and Social Exclusion (PSE) was designed to update the Breadline Britain Surveys which were conducted by Mori in 1983 and 1990 (see also Gordon et al, Breadline Britain in the 1990s). Firstly, a representative sample of the population of Great Britain was asked for their views on what constitutes the necessities of life in present day Britain. This was done in June 1999 using the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Omnibus Survey. Secondly, a specially selected sample was drawn from respondents to the 1998/99 General Household Survey, and interviewed in detail about their circumstances and their views on a range of issues associated with poverty and social exclusion. This dataset is associated with the second aspect of the survey; the follow-up to the GHS, referred to as PSE.
The aims of the PSE survey were:
To update the Breadline Britain Surveys;
To estimate the size of groups of households in different circumstances;
To explore movement in and out of poverty;
To look at age and gender difference in experiences of and responses to poverty.
It is planned that a similar survey will be carried out in other countries.
Main Topics:

The main topics covered include housing, health, time poverty, social networks and support, necessities, finance and debts, intra-household poverty, poverty over time, absolute and overall poverty, area deprivation, local services, crime, child's school, perceptions of poverty, activism as well as some demographics and information on income.

Out of all OECD countries, Cost Rica had the highest poverty rate as of 2022, at over 20 percent. The country with the second highest poverty rate was the United States, with 18 percent. On the other end of the scale, Czechia had the lowest poverty rate at 6.4 percent, followed by Denmark.

The significance of the OECD

The OECD, or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, was founded in 1948 and is made up of 38 member countries. It seeks to improve the economic and social well-being of countries and their populations. The OECD looks at issues that impact people’s everyday lives and proposes policies that can help to improve the quality of life.

Poverty in the United States

In 2022, there were nearly 38 million people living below the poverty line in the U.S.. About one fourth of the Native American population lived in poverty in 2022, the most out of any ethnicity. In addition, the rate was higher among young women than young men. It is clear that poverty in the United States is a complex, multi-faceted issue that affects millions of people and is even more complex to solve.

In 2023, the around 11.1 percent of the population was living below the national poverty line in the United States. Poverty in the United StatesAs shown in the statistic above, the poverty rate among all people living in the United States has shifted within the last 15 years. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines poverty as follows: “Absolute poverty measures poverty in relation to the amount of money necessary to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. The concept of absolute poverty is not concerned with broader quality of life issues or with the overall level of inequality in society.” The poverty rate in the United States varies widely across different ethnic groups. American Indians and Alaska Natives are the ethnic group with the most people living in poverty in 2022, with about 25 percent of the population earning an income below the poverty line. In comparison to that, only 8.6 percent of the White (non-Hispanic) population and the Asian population were living below the poverty line in 2022. Children are one of the most poverty endangered population groups in the U.S. between 1990 and 2022. Child poverty peaked in 1993 with 22.7 percent of children living in poverty in that year in the United States. Between 2000 and 2010, the child poverty rate in the United States was increasing every year; however,this rate was down to 15 percent in 2022. The number of people living in poverty in the U.S. varies from state to state. Compared to California, where about 4.44 million people were living in poverty in 2022, the state of Minnesota had about 429,000 people living in poverty.

Among the OECD countries, Costa Rica had the highest share of children living in poverty, reaching 28.5 percent in 2022. Türkiye followed with a share of 22 percent of children living in poverty, while 20.5 percent of children in Spain, Chile, and the United States did the same. On the other hand, only three percent of children in Finland were living in poverty.

Association between extreme poverty and lung function in children residing in India.

South Africa had the highest inequality in income distribution in 2023 with a Gini score of 63. Its South African neighbor Namibia followed in second. The Gini coefficient measures the deviation of the distribution of income (or consumption) among individuals or households within a country from a perfectly equal distribution. A value of 0 represents absolute equality, a value of 100 absolute inequality. All the 20 most unequal countries in the world were either located in Africa or Latin America & The Caribbean.