UK Deep Poverty Hits 30-Year High in 2024

A new analysis reveals that poverty in the United Kingdom reached record depths in the year ending March 2024, with 6.8 million people living in very deep poverty, the highest number in three decades. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, a social change organization, reported that this figure represents nearly half of the 14.2 million individuals, or about one in five across the country, who were below the poverty line during that period, the latest year for which official data is available.

Very deep poverty is defined as household income after housing costs falling below 40 percent of the median, leaving families unable to cover essentials like food, energy and clothing. For a couple with two young children, this threshold equates to an annual income of about 16,400 pounds or less. The foundation's report, based on government data, shows that the average person in poverty now lives 29 percent below the line, compared to 23 percent in the mid-1990s. Overall relative poverty rates have remained stable at around 21 percent since 2020, but the severity for those affected has intensified.

Children bore a disproportionate burden, with 4.5 million, or nearly one in three, living in...