Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland: 2010-11

14th June 2012

Scotland's Chief Statistician today published Poverty and income inequality in Scotland 2010/11.

This publication presents annual estimates of the proportion and number of children, working age adults and pensioners living in low income households in Scotland and the distribution of household income across Scotland.

Key figures

In 2010/11, 780 thousand individuals were living in relative poverty (before housing costs) in Scotland. This represents 15 per cent of the population, down from 17 per cent in 2009/10.
The percentage of children living in relative poverty fell from 20 per cent to 17 per cent between 2009/10 and 2010/11, this represents a reduction of 20 thousand children to 170 thousand children.
The percentage of working age adults living in relative poverty fell in 2010/11 from 16 per cent to 14 per cent, which represents a reduction of 70 thousand, to 440 thousand adults.
160 thousand pensioners were living in relative poverty in 2010/11. This is a reduction from 17 per cent to 16 per cent between 2009/10 and 2010/11.
In terms of income inequality, the proportion of income received by the lowest 3 income deciles increased from 13 per cent to 14 per cent between 2009/10 and 2010/11. This proportion has remained at between 13 and 14 per cent since 1998/99.
The equivalised median weekly household income fell in real terms from £439 to £416 in Scotland between 2009/10 and 2010/11
No statistically significant changes were observed between 2009/10 and 2010/11 to the absolute poverty levels.