The new analysis from the ONS has investigated which children are living in a ‘persistent low income’ household, this means their income is below 60% of the median income for at least three years out of four.
Using Understanding Society’s youth data, the Office for National Statistics found 11% of children were living in households in persistent low income but children in Asian households were 2.5 times more likely to live with persistent low income, compared with the national average. The analysis looked at years from 2013 to 2017.
Children are more likely to be in persistent low-income households if they are in a workless family (that is, no one in the family was working). During the same period, 37% of children in workless families were living in households in persistent low income.
The high percentage of Asian children living in households in persistent low income may be driven by the Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic groups, who are the most likely to be living in low-income households.
Some ethnic minority groups were found to be doing better financially – the analysis found that the percentage of children in Black households living in persistent low income was six percentage points higher than the percentage of children in White households living in persistent low income.
Ethnicity and immigrationFamily and householdsIncome and expenditureMoney and financesYoung people
