The 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

Household tenure and poverty

Income deciles

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 and income inequality in Scotland.

This page contains extra figures which have been produced after the release of this publication.

Poverty in urban and rural areas

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

• In 2007/08 18 percent of individuals in urban areas were in relative poverty (before housing costs). In rural areas this figures 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 analysis 2007/08

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 prevelant in deprived areas.

In 2007/08 32 percent of individuals in deprived areas were in relative poverty before housing costs. In the rest of Scotland this figure was 15 percent.

Other poverty measures also show this difference.

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

Poverty analysis 2007/08

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

Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation

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

• Between 2002/03 and 2007/08 the proportion of individuals in relative poverty (before housing costs) was higher in disabled than in non-disabled households.
• In 2007/08 24 percent of individuals in disabled housholds were in poverty. For non-disabled households the figure was 14 percent.

Some people argue that the way that poverty figures are calculated treats disabled people unfairly. This is beacause 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 analysis 2007/08

The chart to the right 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. 860 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 prevelant among social renters (those that are renting from the council or housing associations) and households that are owned outright. Around a third of households of these tenure types are in relative poverty (before housing costs).
• It is perhaps surprising that such a high proportion of households which are owned outright are in relative poverty. 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 analysis 2007/08

The income deciles are formed by arranging the Scottish population in order of income and then dividing them into ten equally sized groups. The first decile contains the lowest income people in society and the tenth decile the highest income people. Examining the characteristics of the income deciles is a good way to get an understanding of the distribution of income across society.

• The table on the right presents the income decile medians and the decile 'cutoffs' - the maximum income within a decile.
• The decile median is the 'middle' income for each decile. Half the people in that decile will have incomes lower than it and half will have higher incomes.
• For example, in the 3rd decile half the people will have incomes below £14,200 (but higher than £13,100 as this is the cutoff for the 2nd decile).

The income definition used here is equivalised household income before housing costs. For information about how this is defined see the methodology section.

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

Poverty analysis 2007/08

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 two income deciles almost 60% of people have no savings. In the top two deciles this figure is less than 20%.

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

Poverty analysis 2007/08

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 deciles earnings from work make up the highest proportion of total income.
• However, 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 two deciles over four fifths of income is from earnings.
• In the bottom two deciles this figure is closer to a third, with close to another third coming from state benefits.

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

Poverty analysis 2007/08

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 on the right shows that since between 1994/95 and 2007/08 household income in Scotland has been slightly, but consistently, more equally distributed than in Great Britain as a whole.

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:

Poverty analysis 2007/08

The national poverty figures from the Households Below Average Income datasets can not 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. The "percentage of children in each Local Authority that live in households dependent on out of work benefits OR Child Tax Credit more than the family element" is a combination of benefits and tax credits which are a proxy for living in a low income household.

Data from the Scottish Household Survey can be used to provide some indication of household income at Local Authority Level.

Click here to download Tax credit and benefit claimant data and Scottish Household Survey Income 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.