Scottish Government

Contents

This page contains key figures about income and poverty in Scotland

Headline poverty figures - child, adult and pensioner poverty

Poverty in urban and rural areas

Poverty in deprived areas

Disability and poverty

Gender and poverty

Ethnicity and poverty

Household tenure and poverty

Savings by income decile

Sources of income by income decile

Income inequality - Gini coefficient

Local Authority level poverty information

The main figures about income and poverty, such as headline figures on child, pensioner and adult poverty, are published in the statistical publication 'Poverty and income inequality in Scotland'. This is available to view and download at the following link: Poverty figures 2010/11

This page contains extra figures which have been produced after the release of this publication. Please note that the section 'Poverty in deprived areas' uses the 15% most deprived ares by Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation 2009.

The following chart breaks down relative poverty (before housing costs) by urban and rural areas:

• • In 2010/11 15 per cent of individuals in urban areas were in relative poverty (before housing costs). In rural areas this figure was 14 percent.
  • Other measures of poverty such as absolute poverty (after housing costs) also suggest that income poverty is less prevelant in rural than in urban areas

To download the figures behind this chart, and view related figures click on the following link:

Poverty figures 2010/11

The following chart shows the proportion of individuals in relative poverty (before housing costs) in deprived areas. Deprived areas are defined as being those datazones in the 15% most deprived according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, income poverty is more concentrated in deprived areas.

In 2009/10 29 percent of individuals in deprived areas were in relative poverty before housing costs. In the rest of Scotland this figure was 15 per cent. Nonetheless most people in relative poverty do not live in deprived areas. In 2009/10, of the 870 thousand people who were in relative poverty (before housing costs) in Scotland, 670 thousand lived outside areas classed as the 15% most deprived by SIMD.

Other poverty measures also show this difference.

To download the figures behind this chart, and view related figures click on the following link:

Poverty figures 2010/11

To find out more about the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation please click on the following link:

Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

Disability and poverty

This chart shows the proportion of individuals in families containing a disabled adult who are in relative poverty (before housing costs).

Please note, some of the sample sizes underlying these estimates are small and caution should be exercised in the interpretation of year-on-year fluctuations. Identification of trends should be based on data for several years.

Some people argue that the way that poverty figures are calculated treats disabled people unfairly. This is because they are based on income and do not take into account the perceived higher cost of living of many disabled people. For more detail about this see the following link:

Equivalence scales: rationales, uses and assumptions

To download the figures behind this chart, and view related figures click on the following link:

Poverty figures 2010/11

Gender and poverty

Overall there is no difference in the relative poverty rates (before housing costs) for adult males and adult females (15 percent for both).

A more helpful way of analysing poverty rates by gender is by comparing single adult household compositions (see chart):

• For single pensioners without children, 17 percent of males are in poverty, compared to 19 percent of females.
• The gender divide is less obvious for single working age adults without children. In this case 20 percent of males are in poverty, whereas for females the figure is 19 percent.
• The poverty rate for single women with children is 23 percent. In Scotland there are so few households composed of a single man and children (less than 10,000) that we cannot produce robust poverty figures for this group.

To download the figures behind this chart, and view related figures click on the following link:

Poverty figures 2010/11

Ethnicity and poverty

This chart shows the percentage of households in relative poverty (before housing costs) by ethnic group. These figures are based on aggregated data from 2007/8 to 2010/11 inclusive. The 'Mixed', 'Black / Black British', 'Chinese' and 'Other' ethnic groups all have sample sizes that are too small to reliably report on their own. Thus they have been combined into a single category so that they can be reported.

People from minority ethnic (non-white) groups are around twice as likely to be in relative poverty (before housing costs) compared to those from the 'White - British' group (32 percent and 16 percent respectively).

37 percent of people from the 'Asian / Asian British' group are in poverty, whilst for the combined 'Mixed', 'Black / Black British', 'Chinese' and 'Other' group, the figure is 29 percent.

Those in the 'White - Other' group are slightly more likely than those in the 'White - British' group to be in poverty (17 percent poverty rate compared to 16 percent).

To download the figures behind this chart, and view related figures click on the following link:

Poverty figures 2010/11

 

Household tenure and poverty

This chart breaks down the number of households in relative poverty (before housing costs) by whether they are renting or own their own house.

• 'Owned with mortgage' is the most common household tenure across Scotland. 790 thousand households have this type of tenure. Relative poverty is rare in this tenure with 93 percent of these households classed as 'not poor' by this measure.
• Poverty is most prevalent among those who are renting, either privately or from the council or a housing association. Around 20 per cent of households of these tenure types are in relative poverty (before housing costs).
• 19 percent of those who own outright are in relative poverty. This accounts for a third of all households in relative poverty. These figures could be considered to be surprisingly high. The poverty measure which is used here is based on income and does not include assets. Many of these poor homeowners are pensioners.

To download the figures behind this chart, and view related figures click on the following link:

Poverty figures 2010/11

Savings by income decile

This chart breaks down the ten Scottish income deciles by the amount of savings belonging to the individuals within them.

• The chart shows that as well as having higher incomes, individuals towards the top end of the income distribution also have higher savings to draw upon.
• In the bottom three income deciles over 70% of people have savings of below £1,500. In the top two deciles this figure is between 20% and 40%.

To download the figures behind this chart, and view related figures click on the following link:

Poverty figures 2010/11

For explanation of terms used here such as decile and equivalisation see the methodology section of the website.

This chart breaks down the ten Scottish income deciles by the proportions of income that they receive from different sources.

• In all but the three bottom deciles earnings from work make up the highest proportion of total income.
• At the top end of the income distribution they make up a much higher proportion of people's incomes than at the bottom end.
• In the top three deciles around 80% of income is from earnings.
• In the bottom two deciles this figure is closer to a third, with over a half coming from benefits and tax credits.

To download the figures behind this chart, and view related figures click on the following link:

Poverty figures 2010/11

For explanation of terms used here such as decile and equivalisation see the methodology section of the website.

The most widely used summary measure of the degree of inequality in the household income distribution is the Gini coefficient.

The Gini coefficient represents an overall measure of the cumulative income share against the share of households in the population. It ranges between 0 and 100 with 0 indicating total equality of income across a population and 100 indicating total inequality (if one household had all the income).

 

The graph shows that since 1994/95 household income in Scotland has been more equally distributed than in Great Britain and the United Kingdom as a whole. However, the gap has narrowed between 2004/05 and 2009/10, before increasing again in 2010/11. Between 1994/95 and 2009/10, the Gini coefficient in Scotland has increased from 30 to 35, meaning that income has become less equally distributed, but it has dropped to around 30 in 2010/11. This indicates that income has become more equally distributed in 2010/11 and can be mainly explained by the income of higher income households falling by a larger percentage than lower income households.

For more detailed analysis of the Gini coefficient and a discussion of inequality of income in Scotland see the 'Income Distribution in Scotland' article in the 2007 Scottish Economic Statistics publication.

To download the figures behind this chart, and view related figures click on the following link:

Gini Coefficient 2010/11

Local Authority level poverty information

The national poverty figures from the Households Below Average Income datasets cannot be broken down to Local Authority level in Scotland, meaning poverty figures for Local Authorities are not available. Proxy indicators are used by people interested in poverty at LA level and two of the main proxy indicators are HM Revenue and Customs tax credit data and figures from the Scottish Household Survey:

Tax credit and benefit claimant data from HM Revenue and Customs can be used as proxy data for child poverty at a Local Authority level. This is defined as the "percentage of children in each Local Authority that live in families in receipt of out of work benefits or tax credits where their reported income is less than 60% of median income".

Data from the Scottish Household Survey can be used to provide some indication of household income at Local Authority Level and further information is available on request.

Click here to download Tax credit and benefit claimant data

Please see the data sources and suitability section of the website for more information about the data sources which are available to find out more about income and poverty at a sub-scotland level.