Although the UK is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, "current levels of poverty are around 50% higher than in the 1970s" (via). According to the report "UK Poverty 2025", more than 1 in 5 (i.e. 21% or 14.3 million people) were in poverty in 2022/23. A closer look shows that 2 in every 20 adults but 3 in every 10 children lived in poverty. 4 in 10 of those in poverty (6 million people) were in very deep poverty defined by an income far below the poverty line. The poorest families had an average income of 57% below the poverty line.
Around 3.8 million people (including one million children) experienced destitution, the deepest form of poverty where the most basic needs such as staying warm, dry, clean and fed cannot be met. These disturbing figures have more than doubled between 2017 and 2022.
There are specific groups that are particularly vulnerable, such as children in general or - even more - larger families with three or more children or children in lone-parent families (45% of children in large families and 44% of children in lone-parent families were in poverty). Minority ethnic groups are also susceptible to poverty. 56% of people in Bangladeshi and 49% in Pakistani households lived in poverty. The intersection of ethnicity and childhood in numbers means that 67% of children in Bangladeshi and 61% of children in Pakistani households were affected by poverty. 4 in 10 people (40%) in Black British households were in poverty.
Ethnicity is not the only minoritiy status that is related to poverty. The poverty rate (30%) for disabled people, just to mention one example, was 10 percentage points higher than the rate for people without disabilities. A distinction of disabilities is of interest since it shows that it matters wether one has a limiting mental condition (50% poverty rate) or a physical type (29% poverty rate) of disability (via).
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation points out the importance of tackling poverty stigma in order to fight poverty:
We believe that poverty and poverty stigma are inextricably entangled social problems that reinforce and feed each other.
We believe that poverty and poverty stigma need to be tackled simultaneously. Anti-poverty work needs to be anti-stigma work at its roots and in every branch of collective action towards ending poverty in the UK.
We believe that designing stigma out of systems of welfare and support is integral to the fight for economic justice and economic security (Cooke, 2023).
We believe that stigma is a powerful glue that holds poverty in place, enabling and exacerbating inequalities of wealth, health and opportunity. Loosening the grip of stigma is a key lever of wider progressive social change.
Effective action on poverty stigma needs to be intersectional, collective and participatory. (via)
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photograph by Rob Brenner (copyright by R. Brenner) via
