Latest Update: 05 July 2023

The proportion of people in Scotland living in relative poverty after housing costs for three out of the last four years. Find out more about this indicator.

12% of the population lived in persistent poverty after housing costs in 2017-2021. This means they were in relative poverty after housing costs for at least 3 out of the 4 years in the reference period. This compares to 12%, 13% and 12% in the three previous periods, suggesting that performance is maintaining.

Note that previously published estimates have been revised as more accurate data has become available. The Understanding Society dataset gets revised routinely when households re-enter the longitudinal sample and data gaps can be filled. This can affect persistent poverty estimates.

More information is available in the persistent poverty report.

Children have been consistently more likely to be in persistent poverty compared to working-age adults and pensioners.

This indicator can be broken down by age. This breakdown can be viewed on the Equality Evidence Finder.