National Indicators - Poverty

Latest update: 07 august 2024

21% of the population lived in relative poverty after housing costs in 2020-23.  This is similar to last year but slightly higher than levels in the last decade. 

The data used for this measure is usually a three-year rolling average. For example, 2017-20 covers the survey years 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20.  However, the subsequent periods only contain data from two years as 2020-21 is excluded due to issues in carrying out face to face interviews during the height of the pandemic. 

More information is available in the poverty statistics report.

Data breakdowns

This indicator can be broken down by age, gender, disability, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, and socio-economic status. These breakdowns can be viewed in the charts below or on the Equality Evidence Finder.

• People living in urban areas (22%) were more likely to be in relative poverty than those living in rural areas (15%).

The Gini coefficient is a measure of inequality where 0% expresses perfect equality (every household has the same wealth) and 100% expresses maximal inequality (one household has all the wealth and all others have none). This measure has fluctuated over the longer period, and longer term trend over the past 15 years is broadly stable. Find out more about this indicator.

Wealth inequality in households in Scotland as measured by the Gini coefficient was at 64% in 2018-2020, compared to 62% in 2016-2018 and 60% in 2014-2016. This meets the NPF criteria for worsening performance.

Latest update: 08 May 2024

Cost of living refers to the percentage of net income spent on housing, fuel and food by households in Scotland and is measured as a three-year rolling average. Find out more about this indicator.

Median percentage of net income spent on housing, fuel and food over the 3 year period 2019/20 – 2021/22 was 25.0%.

Cost of living refers to the percentage of net income spent on housing, fuel and food by households in Scotland and is measured as a three-year rolling average. The cost of living has remained relatively stable since 2013/14 – 2015/16 when measurement began.

Data breakdowns

This indicator can be broken down by age, sex, disability, ethnicity and marital status which can be viewed in the charts below. 

This indicator can also be broken down by income, households with and without children, and household type, which can be viewed on the Equality Evidence Finder.

• The cost of living is considerably higher for households in the lowest three income deciles compared to those with higher incomes. 
• The cost of living is similar among households with and without children overall.  
• In low income households, the cost of living is slightly lower for households with children. In higher income households, the cost of living is similar for households with and without children.
• The cost of living is highest for single parent households, followed by single adult households without any children. Households with two or more adults (with or without children) have a lower cost of living.

Important information

The data shown in the chart largely precedes the marked increases in living costs reported through other sources and in the media.

This NPF indicator uses a three year average which runs up to March 2022. The data used in this indicator largely precedes the recent marked increases in living costs.

Due to several factors, UK Inflation rose rapidly from late 2021 hitting a peak of 11.1% in October 2022, resulting in financial pressures for certain households. Although the economic picture now appears to be slowly improving, the effects of higher costs are still being felt acutely by many people. Analysis by Scottish Government shows this is affecting particular households, services and sectors of the economy very differently.

The Cost of Living Crisis in Scotland: analytical report - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

Users may also be interested in results from the  Office for National Statistics’ Opinions and Lifestyles  omnibus survey, which collects data on experience of cost of living pressures. Results are published quarterly, including a report on financial pressures at Impact of increased cost of living on adults across Great Britain - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

Data from the survey, including breakdowns for Scotland are available at Impact of increased cost of living on adults across Great Britain - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

The Unmanageable Debt indicator measures the percentage of households where the household is falling behind with bills or credit commitments and either making excessive debt repayments or is in arrears on monthly commitments (liquidity problems); or where the household is burdened by high debt levels relative to annual income (solvency problems). Find out more about this indicator.

The estimated proportion of households in unmanageable debt was slightly higher by 1.3 percentage points compared to the previous period, and had shown no notable change in the preceding period. This suggests that performance is maintaining, under the methodology for this National Indicator.

Data breakdowns

This indicator can be broken down by age, sex, disability, ethnicity, marital status, and socio-economic status. These breakdowns can be viewed in the charts below.

For breakdowns by employment, household, tenure, children, education,  and rural and urban areas, see the 2006-2020 Wealth in Scotland Publication for more information.

Important information

The Office for National Statistics has revised the data in the previous waves of the Wealth and Assets Survey. Therefore, previous indicator values have been revised.

Latest Update: 07 August 2024

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.

10% of the population lived in persistent poverty after housing costs in 2018-2022. 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%, 11% and 11% 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.

Data breakdowns

This indicator is available broken down by age below the chart. This breakdown can also be viewed on the Equality Evidence Finder.

Important information

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.

Latest update: 06 February 2024

The percentage of households who report being either "very satisfied" or "fairly satisfied" with their house or flat. Find out more about this indicator.

Overall ratings of housing satisfaction were high, with 90.7% of households reporting they are “very” or “fairly satisfied” with their house or flat in 2022, similar to levels of satisfaction reported over the last ten years.

4.9% (± 1.05%) of all households reported that they were “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied” and 4.2% (± 0.98%)  of all households (around 110,000) reported that they were “very” or “fairly dissatisfied”.

Of the 110,000 households that reported they were “very” or “fairly dissatisfied”, 71.3% (around 80,000) reported dissatisfaction with the condition of their accommodation. with 35.3% of all dissatisfied households (around 40,000) citing the poor state of repair. 

Data breakdowns

This data can be broken down by Age, Sex, Ethnicity, Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and urban/rural classification. These breakdowns can be viewed in the charts below and in the Equality Evidence Finder.

This indicator can also be broken down by tenure and local authority. These can be found on the Equality Evidence Finder and information noted below:

• 94.8% of households that were owner occupied reported that they were “very” or “fairly satisfied” with their house or flat. This is higher than for households in the private rented (88.3%) and social rented (79.3%) sectors. All disaggregations will be influenced by the tenure of the household. For example, households where the highest income householder (HIH) is younger will be less likely to be in owner occupation (with higher levels of housing satisfaction) and more likely to be either private rented or social rented housing (with lower levels of housing satisfaction).
• The sample size for this question (around 2,680) is too small to produce robust estimates for local authorities. The question this indicator is based on was asked of a subsample of roughly one-quarter of all SHS respondents (around 10,550 in 2022).

Important information

This indicator uses data from the Scottish Household Survey (SHS). The 2020 and 2021 surveys were impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Enforced changes to the mode of approach and data collection mean that the results from these years are not comparable with those from earlier years. The changes to the mode of approach resulted in a lower response rate (11% in 2021 compared to 63% in 2019) and impacted the composition of the achieved sample, e.g. private renters were less likely to participate. The data was collected by telephone/video interviews rather than from a face-to-face interview. This introduced some mode effects.

The 2022 SHS returned to broadly the pre-pandemic approach (2019 and earlier). However, there remains a significant drop in the response rate (44% in 2022 compared to 63% in 2019), owner occupied households continue to be over-represented relative to social and private rented households in the achieved sample, and around 30% of interviews continue to be undertaken remotely by telephone/video.

This will inevitably have an impact on data quality and effect comparisons over time for some measures from the SHS. Given that satisfaction with housing is highest for owner occupied households, we would expect the over-representation of these households in the achieved sample to result in an overestimate of satisfaction with housing for all households. Though for this indicator there are no obvious concerns , given the high level of overlap in margins of error for 2019 and 2022 estimates.

Latest update: 07 August 2024

The proportion of adults reporting that, at some point in the previous 12 months, they were worried they would run out of food because of a lack of money or other resources. Find out more about this indicator.

9% adults worried about running out of food  in 2021 due to lack of money or other resources in the previous 12 months.

The Scottish Health Survey did not ask questions on food insecurity in 2022 but did so for 2023 and 2024.  Results for 2023 will be available in spring 2025.

Data breakdowns

This indicator can be broken down by age, sex, and socio-economic status. These breakdowns can be viewed in the charts below.

This indicator can also be broken down by equivalised income, household type, limiting longstanding illness on the Equality Evidence Finder.  

• Food insecurity has consistently been more prevalent among adults living in low income households. In 2021, adults with household incomes in the bottom quintile were (26%) more likely to report experiencing food insecurity compared adults with household incomes in the top quintile (1%).
• Since data collection began in 2017, the prevalence of food insecurity has consistently varied by household type. Households with the highest prevalence are single parents (34% based on combined 2019 and 2021 data) and working-age single adults (19%). 

Important information

Data for this indicator is available for 2020. However, please note that the 2020 results are not directly comparable to results for previous years. Data for 2020, and further information can be viewed here.