Row of houses

Living standards, poverty and inequality in the UK

This page brings together key resources that are useful to the public in understanding how and why living standards have changed since 1961.

How have household incomes evolved over your lifetime? What is the gap between rich and poor? How many people are there in poverty? Which groups are most likely to face poverty? These questions are fundamental to understanding the living standards of households across the UK, and have long been the subject of research at the IFS.

IFS researchers produce new research frequently to keep the analysis of the UK income distribution up to date. Our reports analyse these trends to gain a greater understanding of why incomes have been changing in recent years.

Data

This spreadsheet allows the public to see the how different measures of living standards, poverty and inequality have evolved over time. This combines data from Department for Work and Pension's Households Below Average Income series from 1994-95 with data produced by the IFS to measure the incomes and distribution of income in Britain since 1961.

Figures since 1961 are given for:

  • Household incomes
  • Income Inequality
  • Poverty
  • Child poverty
  • Pensioner poverty
  • Poverty for working-age parents
  • Poverty for working-age non-parents