Earlier this summer Centre for London analysed the latest government statistics on poverty. They found that “27% of Londoners are living in poverty: almost 2.5 million people, nearly twice the population of Birmingham.“
An interesting aside was that, due to a change in the way poverty was measured, it was expected the figures would fall. Across most of England they did – but in London the figures went up.
CfL have looked a little more into why:
- In London, the proportion of the population living in poverty has increased from 24% to 27%. For the rest of the UK, the figure is static around 19%.
- The rise in poverty in London is driven by young people (possibly a combination of increasing youth unemployment and cost-of-living), black and minority groups.
- The depth of poverty in London is also increasing. Those whose household income is less than half of the median have increased in every age group except pensioners. Children are the most likely group (28%) to be in deep poverty.
- High housing costs are what make poverty in London higher than elsewhere (see chart). This impacts single parents and single person households especially.