Britain's poorest 40% of households own 5% of the country's wealth. The richest tenth own 40.7%.
Britain's poorest 40% of households hold 5% of the country's wealth. The richest tenth hold 40.7% — a mean of over £2m each, against about £63k for a household in the bottom 40%.
The claim
Wealth in Britain is very unevenly split between rich and poor.
What is true
That is not just an impression. On ONS's own figures, a household in the bottom 40% holds a mean of £63,020; a household in the top 10% holds a mean of £2,047,148 — about 32 times as much.
Put it in scale
What we know / don’t know
Is the true concentration at the very top even higher than 40.7%?
The Wealth and Assets Survey achieved a sample of 15,100 households and cannot resolve the top 1% or top 0.1% reliably — household surveys are known to under-capture the very wealthy. See /inequality/wealth-and-tax for the fuller picture, including why the survey lost its accredited-statistics status.
The verdict
Wealth is heavily concentrated at the top: the bottom 40% of households hold about a twentieth of Britain's wealth, the top 10% hold about two-fifths.
Every number on this card
| Figure | What it counts | Geography · period | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5% | Share of Great Britain household wealth held by the bottom 40% of households, ranked by wealth | Great Britain · April 2020 to March 2022 | CALCULATED | ONS, Total wealth: Wealth in Great Britain |
| 34.9% | Share held by the middle 40% (deciles 5–8) | Great Britain · April 2020 to March 2022 | CALCULATED | ONS, Total wealth: Wealth in Great Britain |
| 19.4% | Share held by the next 10% (decile 9) | Great Britain · April 2020 to March 2022 | CALCULATED | ONS, Total wealth: Wealth in Great Britain |
| 40.7% | Share held by the richest 10% (decile 10)A mean of £2,047,148 per household in this band, against £63,020 for the bottom 40%. | Great Britain · April 2020 to March 2022 | CALCULATED | ONS, Total wealth: Wealth in Great Britain |
- The Wealth and Assets Survey lost its accredited-official-statistics status on 13 June 2025, when the Office for Statistics Regulation judged its outputs no longer of sufficient quality to meet users’ needs. The suspension has not been lifted. April 2020 to March 2022 remains the most recent published round.
- Great Britain only — Northern Ireland is not covered by this survey.
Verified against primary sources: 2026-09-02.