Fact of the Day - Poverty

“Almost a third (33%) of the UK population - 19.3 million people - fell below the official poverty line at some point between 2010 and 2013, according to figures released by the Office for National Statistics,” the Press Association reported. ONS records someone as being in poverty if they live in a household with disposable income below 60% of the national average, before housing costs. Persistent poverty is defined as being in poverty in the current year and at least two of the three preceding years.

“Pensioners were most likely to fall below the poverty line, with almost 40% of those aged 65 and over in the UK doing so at least once between 2010 and 2013, compared with around 30% of those under 65. Some 60% of those living in single parent households in the UK and almost half (46%) of those in single adult households experienced poverty at least once in the four years between 2010 and 2013, compared with less than

a third of those living in households with two or more adults.”