Rural England
Children in low income households
Key points
- Between a fifth and a quarter of all children in rural districts live in low income households. This compares with a third of those in urban districts.
- 900,000 children in low income households - a quarter of all those living in low income households - live in rural districts.
- The risk of children being in low income households is affected mainly by the work status of their parent(s); within each work status, the average levels of risk are similar in both rural and urban districts.
- Two-thirds of children in low income households in rural districts live in a family where someone works, a much higher proportion than in urban districts.
- Around a third of children in low income households in rural districts live in lone parent families, a much lower proportion than in urban districts.
- See the UK indicator on children in low income households.
Graph 1: Rates
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Graph 2: Shares
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Graph 3: Risks by group
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Graph 4: Proportions by group
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Rural/urban ratios (urban = 10)
On most poverty and social exclusion indicators, rural areas have 'better scores' than urban areas. The purpose of the table below is to differentiate between those subjects where rural areas are 'a bit better' and those where rural areas are 'a lot better'. It does so by presenting the rural statistics for the indicator as a proportion of the urban statistics. So, for example, a rural 'score' of 6 in the table below means that the rural statistic is around 60% of its urban equivalent.
Graphs 1 and 2
| Type of district | Below 60% median | Below 50% median | Below 40% median |
|---|---|---|---|
| 'Very rural' districts | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| 'Mostly rural' districts | 7 | 6 | 6 |
| 'Part rural' districts | 7 | 7 | 7 |
Graphs 3 and 4
| Type of district | Children in households below 60% of median income | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lone parent families | Couple families | |||||
| Full-time worker | Part-time worker | Workless | Full-time worker | Part-time worker | Workless | |
| 'Very rural' districts | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 9 |
| 'Mostly rural' districts | 4 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 9 |
| 'Part rural' districts | 10 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 10 |
Note that the sample sizes for the breakdown by both family type and work status are very small so there is substantial uncertainty about the precise ratios above.
Definitions and data sources
The indicator
For each type of local authority district, the first graph shows the proportion of children who are in households with low incomes.
Three low income thresholds are presented to show the extent and intensity of low income. These are 60% of UK median household income, 50% of UK median income and 40% of UK median income. For a discussion on why these thresholds has been used, and possible alternative thresholds, see the page on choices of thresholds. Income is net disposable household income, after deducting housing costs. All data is equivalised (adjusted) to account for differences in household size and composition.
The second graph shows the distribution of children in households with incomes below 60% of UK median household income by type of district.
For each type of local authority district, the third graph shows the proportion of children who are in households with incomes below 60% of UK median household income, with the data shown separately by family type (lone parent or couple) and work status (full-time work, part-time work or workless).
The term 'family' is used to cover an adult and their spouse (if applicable) whereas the term 'household' is used to cover everyone living in a dwelling. So, a young adult living with their parents would count as one 'household' but two 'families'. In analysing the rates of low income by work status, the work status is analysed by family whereas the income is analysed by household. For a more detailed discussion of this issue, see the page on households, families and benefit units.
For each type of local authority district, the fourth graph shows the distribution of children who are in households with incomes below 60% of UK median household income by family type and work status.
Level of the data
Lower tier local authorities (districts), as classified by the DEFRA 2005 classification system. Both the DEFRA classification rules and their results by local authority can be found on the page on rural/urban classification systems.
Source
Households Below Average Income, DWP. To improve its statistical reliability, the data is the average for the latest three years.
The numbers
Graphs 1 and 2
| Type of district | Below 60% median | Below 50% median | Below 40% median | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rates | Numbers | Rates | Numbers | Rates | Numbers | |
| 'Very rural' districts | 22% | 300,000 | 14% | 200,000 | 7% | 100,000 |
| 'Mostly rural' districts | 22% | 300,000 | 13% | 200,000 | 7% | 100,000 |
| 'Part rural' districts | 24% | 300,000 | 15% | 200,000 | 9% | 100,000 |
| Urban districts | 33% | 2,300,000 | 22% | 1,500,000 | 12% | 800,000 |
Graph 3
| Type of district | Children in households below 60% of median income | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lone parent families | Couple families | |||||
| Full-time worker | Part-time worker | Workless | Full-time worker | Part-time worker | Workless | |
| 'Very rural' districts | 11% | 27% | 77% | 10% | 43% | 73% |
| 'Mostly rural' districts | 5% | 28% | 74% | 11% | 48% | 67% |
| 'Part rural' districts | 12% | 32% | 75% | 10% | 40% | 80% |
| Urban districts | 13% | 33% | 78% | 12% | 60% | 77% |
Note that the sample sizes for the breakdown by both family type and work status are very small so there is substantial uncertainty about the precise percentages above.
Graph 4
| Type of district | Children in households below 60% of median income | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lone parent families | Couple families | |||
| With work | Workless | With work | Workless | |
| 'Very rural' districts | 30,000 | 70,000 | 160,000 | 30,000 |
| 'Mostly rural' districts | 30,000 | 70,000 | 150,000 | 40,000 |
| 'Part rural' districts | 40,000 | 90,000 | 160,000 | 40,000 |
| Urban districts | 210,000 | 820,000 | 840,000 | 380,000 |
Note that the sample sizes for the breakdown by both family type and work status are very small so there is substantial uncertainty about the precise numbers above.