Deep poverty rates for children, pensioners and working-age adults (1996/97 - 2024/25)
Data sources and notes
- Note
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These results show three-year averages to the stated date. Please note that data for 2020/21 have been excluded from analysis due to concerns with bias in the sample. Households in deep poverty are those with 50% or less of the median income for that year.
- Data source
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Households Below Average Income, Department for Work and Pensions
- Chart source
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London's Poverty Profile 2026
Last updated: August 2026
Next estimated update: June 2027
What does this indicator show?
This indicator shows the proportion of people in London living in 'deep poverty', split into children, working age adults and pensioners.
Deep poverty goes beyond the standard poverty rate to show us how many people are experiencing the most severe poverty. People in deep poverty often face extreme hardship and struggle to afford even the basic essentials.
By looking at the deep poverty rate, we get a more nuanced picture of poverty levels in London, and are better able to understand how many people are in the most urgent need of help - and how this has changed over time.
Find more detail about how we calculate ‘deep poverty’ levels at the bottom of the page.
What does it tell us?
20% of Londoners were living in deep poverty in 2024/25, far higher than the rest of England (12%).
In the last three years deep poverty in London has risen in every age group shown here. The rise has been especially sharp among children. 28% of London’s children are in deep poverty - a rise of eight percentage points in just two years.
The opposite is true in the rest of England, where the deep poverty rate has fallen for every group.
Over the long-term going back to the late 1990s, deep poverty remained at generally consistent levels for working-age adults. For children there was a gradual fall in rates across the 2000s up to 2011/12 before a slight increase from 2017/18 to just before covid. Deep poverty for pensioners moved around between 11% and 16% throughout the pre-covid period.
How do we calculate deep poverty?
In the UK, the official poverty line is 60% of the median income. Poverty can be measured in two ways. To calculate how many people are in deep poverty, we look at the number of people whose total income is 50%, or less, than the median income.
Want to know more?
If you want to explore this data in more depth, check the 'data source and notes' button on the above charts. This will tell you where the data comes from, where you may be able to dig deeper.