UK statistics
UK Poverty Line 2026
The UK relative poverty line is 60% of contemporary median household income — approximately £21,000/year for a couple after housing costs. Absolute poverty fixes this threshold to a 2010/11 baseline uprated by inflation.
Headline numbers
- Relative poverty threshold
- £21,000
- Absolute poverty threshold
- £18,000
- People in relative poverty (AHC)
- 14.4m
Couple, after housing, 2022/23
Couple, fixed to 2010/11 real terms
ONS HBAI 2022/23
The detail
The UK uses two poverty measures via ONS Households Below Average Income (HBAI). "Relative poverty" is income below 60% of contemporary median equivalised disposable household income — for 2022/23 that threshold was ~£21,000/year for a couple with no children after housing costs (AHC), or ~£11,000 for a single adult.
Absolute poverty fixes that 60%-of-median threshold to a 2010/11 baseline and uprates by CPI. In 2022/23 this stood at ~£18,000/year for a couple AHC. Absolute poverty has declined over the last decade while relative poverty has held roughly flat.
HBAI reports 14.4 million people in the UK live in relative poverty After Housing Costs (AHC) in 2022/23 — about 22% of the population. Children are disproportionately represented (4.3m children; ~30% child poverty rate).
Official poverty statistics use AHC because housing costs vary dramatically and are a major driver of financial hardship. Before Housing Costs (BHC) figures are also published but less commonly cited in policy debate.
Sources
- ONS HBAI — Households Below Average Income (retrieved 2026-04-19)
- JRF — UK Poverty 2024 (retrieved 2026-04-19)
- Our methodology & full source list →
Related statistics
- Median Household Income
The median UK household has disposable income of roughly £35,000 per year after tax and benefits (ONS Households Below Average Income, 2022/23).
- Lowest-Paying Jobs
Hospitality, cleaning, and retail are the lowest-paid UK occupational groups, with full-time medians typically £20,000–£23,000 — close to the National Living Wage floor.
- Real Wages
After 16 years of stagnation, UK real-terms weekly pay finally surpassed its 2008 pre-financial-crisis peak in early 2024 — but only just, and partly due to nominal wage growth outpacing CPI for the first sustained period since the Great Recession.