Indicator 1.2.1 Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age

Percentage of the population living in households at risk of poverty, by sex and age

The percentage of people who are living in households which are deemed at risk of poverty in the national context. Monitoring national poverty is important for country-specific development agendas. National poverty lines are used to make more accurate estimates of poverty consistent with the country’s specific economic and social circumstances, and are not intended for international comparisons of poverty rates.

United Kingdom

Percentage (%)

Household income - The total disposable income of a household is calculated by adding together the personal income received by all of the household members plus income received at household level. The measure of income used is before housing costs Missing income information is imputed.

Disposable household income includes i) All income from work (employee wages and self-employment earnings), ii) Private income from investment and property, iii) Transfers between households, iv) All social transfers received in cash including old-age pensions Note - Some of the income components are mandatory only from 2007 - Imputed rent, and Interest paid on mortgage, and v) Employer’s social insurance contributions.
From 2007 onwards, all countries have to supply gross income information.
The current definition of total household disposable income used for the calculation of EU-SILC based indicators excludes i) Imputed rent - i.e. money that one saves on full (market) rent by living in one’s own accommodation or in accommodation rented at a price that is lower than the market rent, and ii) Non monetary income components, in particular value of goods produced for own consumption, social transfers in kind and non-cash employee income except company cars.

Equivalence scale - To take into account the impact of differences in household size and composition, the total disposable household income is “equivalised”. The equivalised income attributed to each member of the household is calculated by dividing the total disposable income of the household by the equivalisation factor.
Equivalisation factors can be determined in various ways. Eurostat applies an equivalisation factor calculated according to the OECD-modified scale first proposed in 1994. This gives a weight of 1.0 to the first person aged 14 or more, a weight of 0.5 to other persons aged 14 or more and a weight of 0.3 to persons aged 0-13.

Household - A ‘private household’ means “a person living alone or a group of people who live together in the same private dwelling and share expenditures, including the joint provision of the essentials of living”. EU-SILC implementing regulation number 1983/2003 on updated definitions, defines households in terms of sharing household expenses and (for non-permanent members) in terms of duration of stay and (for temporarily absent members) in terms of duration of absence. Definitions sourced from “Income and Living Conditions” Metadata (Eurostat).

Not available for this indicator

No calculations were performed in the data acquisition of this indicator as appropriate data was readily available. For insight into the details of potential calculations please refer to the original source metadata or source contact.

This indicator is being used as an approximation of the UN SDG Indicator. Where possible, we will work to identify or develop UK data to meet the global indicator specification. This indicator has been identified in collaboration with topic experts.