Inequality in one image
How income is distributed, and how many children fall below the poverty line.
UK Facts · Inequality
The gap is measured in money. Its cost is measured in years.
People in England’s most deprived areas can expect around nineteen fewer years of good health than those in the least deprived.
- 69.2 yearshealthy life expectancy, least deprived tenthMen, England, 2022 to 2024
- 49.8 yearsmost deprived tenthThe same measure, the other end of the scale
- 19.4 yearsthe gap in years of good healthFar wider than the gap in total life expectancy, which is 10.4 years
Children in relative low income after housing costs, UK. Note the break at 2021/22 — a methodology change, not a real fall.
Methodology break at 2021: DWP integrated benefit records into the survey — not comparable either side
Association, not proof of cause
These are area comparisons, not comparisons between individually rich and poor people, and deprivation covers income, employment, education, health, crime, housing and environment together. The gradient is real and consistently measured. What produces it — and how much of it inequality itself explains — is not settled by these figures.
Read this carefully: Health figures are England only. The wealth statistics usually quoted alongside them come from a survey that lost its accredited status in June 2025 and has not regained it, so treat wealth shares with more caution than the health or income data.
England · 2022 to 2024 · Official statistic
Source: ONS, Healthy life expectancy by national area deprivation · uk-statpack.co.uk
See what inequality changes — essentials, health and what is proposed about it →UK Facts · Inequality
27%
Children in relative poverty
2024/25 · United Kingdom. Children in relative low income after housing costs; next release expected March 2027.
DWP Households Below Average Income · verified 2026-07-26
32.9
Gini coefficient
Income inequality, 2024
ONS, Household disposable income and inequality (Table 10)
Figures cover different geographies and reporting periods. Open the full analysis for definitions and caveats before quoting any of them.
Generated from the same verified stat registry and chart datasets as the rest of the site.