Wales
Low income by age group
Key points
- The proportion of children living in low income households (using the low income threshold of the 60% of median income after deducting housing costs) has been falling, from an average of 36% of all children in the years 1994/95 to 1996/97 to an average of 28% in the years 2003/04 to 2005/06.
- Nevertheless, children remain more much likely to live in low income households than either working-age adults or pensioners.
- The proportion of pensioners living in low income households has also been falling, from an average of 26% in the years 1994/95 to 1996/97 to an average of 20% in the years 2003/04 to 2005/06.
- Pensioners are less likely to be living in low income than non-pensioners.
- The proportion of working-age adults living in low income households has also been falling, from an average of 24% of all working-age adults in the years 1994/95 to 1996/97 to an average of 21% in the years 2003/04 to 2005/06.
- 30% (200,000) of those in low income are children and 30% (200,000) are working-age adults without dependent children.
Graph 1: Over time
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Graph 2: Shares
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Definitions and data sources
The first graph shows the risk of a person being in a low income household, with the data shown separately for children, pensioners and working-age adults.
The second graph shows a breakdown of the people in low income households according to whether they are children, pensioners, working-age adults with dependent children or working-age adults without dependent children.
The data source for both graphs is Households Below Average Income, based on the Family Resources Survey (FRS). A child is defined as an individual who is either under 16 or is an unmarried 16- to 18-year-old on a course up to and including A level standard (or Highers in Scotland). Income is disposable household income after deducting housing costs and the low income threshold is the same as that used elsewhere, namely 60% of contemporary median household income. All data is equivalised (adjusted) to account for differences in household size and composition. The self-employed are included in the statistics. Note that in 2007 DWP made some technical changes to how it adjusted household income for household composition (including retrospective changes) and, as a result, the data is slightly different than previously published figures.
Overall adequacy of the indicator: high. The FRS is a well-established annual government survey, designed to be representative of the population as a whole.