Skip to content
Welsh Government

Poverty

We have not published the usual range of additional poverty data for the financial year 2020-21. This is because the 2020-21 data collection process was impacted by COVID-19, and for many breakdowns of headline estimates (including UK country estimates) it is not possible to make meaningful statistical assessments of trends and changes in the most recent year compared to the pre-coronavirus level.

We have instead published an article of measures of poverty (linked below) which describes the data quality issues, and presents Welsh poverty-related figures using the 2020-21 households below average income dataset alongside confidence intervals and additional warnings. We are doing this to ensure full transparency, but advise against use of the unreliable 2020-21 dataset for Wales. Please refer to relative income poverty data in the reports below for the latest National Statistics for Wales.

The reports here contain data on the percentage of: all individuals, children, the working-age population and pensioners living in relative income poverty.

A person lives in relative income poverty if they live in a household where the household income is below 60 per cent of the UK median household income.

Headline data
The headline data is from the Households Below Average Income publication from the Department of Work and Pensions. This data is given on a before and after housing costs are paid basis.

Other reports
The rest of the reports are based on further analysis of the Family Resources Survey which is the survey used in the Households Below Average Income publication. This extra analysis has been carried out by the Welsh Government. It is only given on an after housing costs are paid basis as this is the more widely used measure.

Number, risk and composition
Aside from the headline data, all other reports give three measures: number, risk and composition.

Reports

Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Children in relative income poverty by age of youngest child in family National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Children in relative income poverty by number of children in the household National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Children in relative poverty by tenure type National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Children in relative income poverty by ethnic group of head of household National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Children in relative income poverty by economic status of household National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Children in relative income poverty by family type and work status National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Pensioners in relative income poverty by tenure type National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Pensioners in relative income poverty by age of the head of household National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Pensioners in relative income poverty by family type National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Working age adults in relative income poverty by economic status of household National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Working age adults in relative income poverty by family type National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Working age adults in relative income poverty by age of youngest child National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Working age adults in relative income poverty by number of children in the household National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Working age adults in relative income poverty by tenure type National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Working age adults in relative income poverty by ethnicity of the head of household National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Working age adults in relative income poverty by whether there is disability within the family (Equality Act definition) National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Working age adults in relative income poverty by type of employment National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData People in relative income poverty by tenure type National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData People in relative income poverty by ethnic group of the head of household National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData People in relative income poverty by whether there is disability within the family (Equality Act definition) National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData People in relative income poverty by family type National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Percentage of all individuals, children, working-age adults and pensioners living in relative income poverty for countries and regions in the UK between financial year ending (FYE) 1995 and FYE 2022 (averages of 3 financial years) National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Children in relative income poverty by whether there is disability in the family (Equality Act definition) National Statistics
Data Provider: Welsh Government OData Pensioners in relative income poverty by whether there is disability in the family (Equality Act definition) National Statistics

> Links

Data Provider: Welsh Government Measures of poverty: April 2020 to March 2021 - Welsh Government (external link)
Data Provider: Welsh Government Relative income poverty - Welsh Government (external link)
Data Provider: Welsh Government Households Below Average Income report (relative income poverty and material deprivation statistics) - Department for Work and Pensions (external link)
Data Provider: Welsh Government Income dynamics report (persistent poverty – experimental statistics) – Department for Work and Pensions (external link)
Data Provider: Welsh Government National Survey for Wales on StatsWales
Data Provider: Welsh Government National Survey for Wales – Welsh Government (external link)
Data Provider: Welsh Government Workless households on StatsWales
Data Provider: Welsh Government Workless households – Welsh Government (external link)
Data Provider: Welsh Government Persistent Poverty in the UK and EU - Office for National Statistics (external link)
Data Provider: Welsh Government Poverty and employment transitions in the UK and EU - Office for National Statistics (external link)
Data Provider: Welsh Government Family resources survey (external link)
Data Provider: Welsh Government Material deprivation and low income - Welsh Government (external link)