Which children are most likely to be in poverty in the UK?

The government published its child poverty strategy on 5 December 2025. The government will measure the strategy’s progress against two metrics: 

• Relative child poverty after housing costs: based on disposable household income after housing costs are taken into account. A child is in relative poverty if they live in a household with income less than 60% of median income in the same year. The government says the strategy will lift 550,000 children out of relative low income after housing costs by 2028/29. 

• Deep material poverty: a new measure of poverty based on material deprivation. A child is in deep material poverty if they lack at least 4 out of 13 “essential items” as set out in the chart later in this briefing. While relative poverty is a measure of how much income a household has, deep material poverty measures whether a household can afford essentials.  

This short briefing provides the latest data, published on 26 March 2026, on which children are most likely to be in poverty. 

The Library briefing Poverty in the UK: statistics provides further information on the child poverty strategy, further explains relative poverty and deep material poverty, and provides more detailed poverty data.

27% of children were in relative child poverty after housing costs in 2024/25 

Relative child poverty after housing costs has been between 27% and 31% since 2001/02, according to data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It was 27% in 2024/25. The UK child poverty rate since 1994/95 is shown in the chart below.  

Poverty data from 2021/22 onward has been linked to DWP administrative data to improve the accuracy of benefits income data, so figures before and after 2021/22 are not comparable. Section 1.5 of the Library briefing Poverty in the UK: statistics provides more detail.

Note: Data from 2021/22 onward has been linked to DWP administrative data, so figures before and after 2021/22 are not comparable. Source: DWP, Households Below Average Income, Table 1.4a

13% of children were in deep material poverty in 2024/25 

In 2024/25, 13% of children lived in households which lacked at least 4 of the 13 essential items listed in the chart below. The chart shows that parents prioritise some essentials over others. For example, 2% of children do not have three meals a day, while 43% live in a household which cannot set money aside for unexpected expenses.

Source: DWP, Households Below Average Income, Tables 4.7db and 4.8db

Some children are in both relative poverty after housing costs and deep material poverty 

In 2024/25, 27% of children were in relative poverty after housing costs, 13% were in deep material poverty and 5% were in both. 

Of the children in deep material poverty, over half (52%) were also in relative poverty after housing costs. 

Some children are more likely to be in poverty than others 

Child poverty varies widely by ethnic group 

In the three-year period 2022/23 to 2024/25, child poverty rates were highest among Bangladeshi ethnic groups (63%) and lowest among White ethnic groups (22%). Deep material poverty was also highest among Bangladeshi ethnic groups in the two-year 2022/23 to 2024/25. This is shown in the charts below.

Source: DWP, Households Below Average Income, Table 4.5db and 4.9db

In the DWP’s data, the ethnic group of the household is determined by the ‘household reference person’. This is usually the person in whose name the accommodation is owned or rented, or the person in the household with the highest income.  

Child poverty rates are highest in London 

Child poverty rates were highest in London (38%) in the three-year period 2022/23 to 2024/25, as shown in the chart below.  

The high child poverty rate in London reflects high housing costs. When poverty is measured before housing costs, London has one of the lowest rates of child poverty. This shows that regional differences in housing costs can have a large effect poverty rates. 

London also had the highest rates of deep material poverty in 2023/24 to 2024/25. 

The Library’s child poverty dashboard provides child poverty rates at a constituency level. 

Source: DWP, Households Below Average Income, Table 4.6db and 4.9db

Family size and type affect child poverty rates 

Children in families with three or more children had a much higher relative poverty rate (45%) than children in families with one (21%) or two children (19%) in 2024/25. Deep material poverty was also much higher for households with three or more children (20%).  

This partly reflects the effect of the two-child limit on Universal Credit, which was removed starting in April 2026. The poverty rate among households with three or more children has increased since the two-child limit was introduced. The Library briefing The impact of the two-child limit in Universal Credit provides more detail on the two-child limit. 

Source: DWP, Households Below Average Income, Tables 4.5db and 4.9db

Child poverty rates are higher in families where nobody is in work 

The employment status of adults in a household has a big impact on child poverty. In 2024/25, 60% of children in ‘workless households’ (households where nobody works) were in relative poverty after housing costs, compared with 42% in households with at least one adult in work. 38% of children in workless households were in deep material poverty, compared with 9% of children households with at least one adult in work. 

Children with single parents are also more likely to be in poverty: 41% of children with single parents were in relative poverty after housing costs in 2024/25, while 27% were in deep material poverty. In comparison, 23% of children with parents in a couple were in relative poverty after housing costs and 9% were in deep material poverty. This is mostly due to single parents finding it difficult to work full time.  

The chart below shows that child poverty for children with a single parent who is in full-time work (20%) is lower than the UK average (31%), while children with no parents in work have the highest poverty rates.  

Children with a single parent are more likely than average to be in deep material poverty, but less likely than household where nobody is working. 

Source: DWP, Households Below Average Income, Table 4.5db and 4.9db

In 2024/25, child poverty rates were similar in families with and without someone with a disability 

28% of children with a disabled family member were in relative poverty after housing costs in 2024/25, compared with 27% of children with no disabled family members.  

These figures do not take into account the extra costs associated with being disabled: if these costs were taken into account, poverty rates for families where someone is disabled would be higher. Section 11.1 of the Library briefing Poverty in the UK: statistics provides more detail.  

This can explain why children in families where someone is disabled are much more likely to be in deep material poverty, as shown in the charts below: households with a disabled person may have higher costs so are less likely to be able to afford essentials. 

Source: DWP, Households Below Average Income, Table 4.5db and via Stat-Xplore

Further reading 

The Library briefing Poverty in the UK: statistics provides more child poverty statistics. 

The Library’s child poverty dashboard provides child poverty statistics for constituencies and small areas within constituencies.   

Corrections

This page previously said that 31% of children in the UK were in relative poverty after housing costs in 2024/25. This was based on old data and was corrected to 27% on 12 August 2026.

About the author: Brigid Francis-Devine is a researcher at the House of Commons Library specialising in poverty. 

Photo by Krzysztof Kowalik, on Unsplash