Relative income poverty: April 2016 to March 2017

Headline figures

All figures here relate to relative income poverty after housing costs such as mortgage interest payments/rent, water rates and structural house insurance were paid.

Key findings

• 24% of all people in Wales were living in relative income poverty between 2014-15 and 2016-17 (i.e. the financial year ending March 2015 and the financial year ending March 2017).
• This is up from 23% between 2013-14 and 2015-16, the rate it had stood at for the last 5 time periods.
• Children were the age group most likely to be in relative income poverty between 2014-15 and 2016-17 (at 28%) and this has been true for some time. However the rate has fallen from 30% between 2013-14 and 2015-16. A possible reason for children consistently being the age group most likely to be in relative income poverty is that adults with children are more likely to be out of work or in low paid work due to childcare responsibilities.
• Relative income poverty for working-age adults has been steady, but it has risen from 23% between 2013-14 and 2015-16 to 24% between 2014-15 and 2016-17.
• The percentage of pensioners living in relative income poverty has been rising for the past 4 periods (reaching 20% between 2014-15 and 2016-17) but it is still below what it was in the mid to late 1990s.

Analysis by economic, family, ethnicity and disability characteristics

Key findings

• People living in social rented housing were more likely to  be in relative income poverty when compared with those privately renting or owner occupiers.
• Living in a workless household increased the chances of being in relative income poverty for working-age adults and children.
• Children living in lone parent families were more likely to be in relative income poverty than those living in households with a couple.
• The likelihood of being in relative income poverty was similar for those children who lived in a household with one, two and three children living in them. In previous time periods children in larger families (three or more) were more likely to be in relative income poverty.
• Working-age adults who were living in households where the head of the household was from a non-white ethnic group were more likely to be in relative income poverty compared with those where the head of the household was from a white ethnic group.
• Living in a household where there was someone with a disability increased the chances of living in relative income poverty for working-age adults and children but not for pensioners.