Child poverty facts and figures

The facts and figures show the reality of child poverty in the UK.

  • There were 4.2 million children living in poverty in the UK in 2021-22.1 That's 29 per cent of children, or nine in a classroom of 30.2
  • 44 per cent of children living in lone-parent families are in poverty.3 Lone parents face a higher risk of poverty due to the lack of an additional earner, low rates of maintenance payments, gender inequality in employment and pay, and childcare costs. 
  • Children from Black and minority ethnic groups are more likely to be in poverty: 48 per cent are now in poverty, compared with 25 per cent of children in white British families.4
  • Work does not provide a guaranteed route out of poverty in the UK. 71 per cent of children growing up in poverty live in a household where at least one person works.5
  • Children in larger families are at a far greater risk of living in poverty – 42 per cent of children living in families with 3 or more children live in poverty.6
  • Between 1998 and 2003 reducing child poverty was made a priority - with a comprehensive strategy and investment in children - and the number of children in poverty fell by 600,000.7

(All poverty figures are after housing costs)

Read about solutions to child poverty

 

  • 1. Households Below Average Income, Statistics on the number and percentage of people living in low income households for financial years 1994/95 to 2021/22, Table 1.4b. Department for Work and Pensions, 2023
  • 2. Households Below Average Income, Statistics on the number and percentage of people living in low income households for financial years 1994/95 to 2021/22, Table 1.4a. Department for Work and Pensions, 2023
  • 3. Households Below Average Income, Statistics on the number and percentage of people living in low income households for financial years 1994/95 to 2021/22, Table 4_5db. Department for Work and Pensions, 2023
  • 4. Author’s Calculations from Households Below Average Income, Statistics on the number and percentage of people living in low income households for financial years 1994/95 to 2021/22, Tables 4_3db & 4_5db. Department for Work and Pensions, 2023
  • 5. Households Below Average Income, Statistics on the number and percentage of people living in low income households for financial years 1994/95 to 2021/22, Table 4.3db. Department for Work and Pensions, 2023
  • 6. Households Below Average Income, Statistics on the number and percentage of people living in low income households for financial years 1994/95 to 2021/22, Table 4_5db. Department for Work and Pensions, 2023
  • 7. Households Below Average Income, Statistics on the number and percentage of people living in low income households for financial years 1994/95 to 2021/22, Table 4.3tr. Department for Work and Pensions, 2023