For a person to be in relative income poverty it means they are living in a household where the total household income from all sources is less than 60 per cent of the average UK household income (as given by the median).

1. Relative income poverty
Family characteristics
Financial year ending 2019

2. Lone parent households were the family type most
likely to be in relative income poverty
• 42 per cent of people in lone parent households and 29 per cent of
people in single female households with no children lived in relative
income poverty after housing costs in the period 2016-17 to 2018-19 (an
average over three financial years).
• In comparison, 15 per cent of people living in couple households without
children were in relative income poverty.

3. Percentage of people in each family type in Wales who were living
in relative income poverty (after housing costs), 2016-17 to 2018-
19
Source: Welsh Government Analysis of HBAI, Family Resources Survey, DWP
15
18
20
23
23
27
29
42
0 10 20 30 40 50
Couple without children
Pensioner couple
Single male pensioner
Single female
pensioner
Couple with children
Single male - no
children
Single female - no
children
Lone parent

4. • In the past, most people living in relative income poverty were living in
households with children.
• However, the pattern is now less clear with a similar proportion of those
living in relative income poverty living in households with children and without
children.
Source: Welsh Government Analysis of HBAI, Family Resources Survey, DWP
The people in Wales who were living in relative income poverty (after
housing costs), by family type, 2016-17 to 2018-19
Note Families here include single people
What type of families live in Poverty?
18%
47%
34%
Pensioner Families
Families with Children
Families without Children

5. Around 60,000 children living in lone parent families
were living in relative income poverty
• 42 per cent of children who lived in lone parent families lived in relative
income poverty in the latest period, 2016-17 to 2018-19. This figure has
decreased from 44 per cent reported last year and is at its lowest since the
period 2010-11 to 2012-13.
• A quarter of children in couple households were in relative income poverty.

6. Children that lived in households where the youngest child was
aged 0 to 4 accounted for over half of all children that were in
relative income poverty
Source: Welsh Government Analysis of HBAI, Family Resources Survey, DWP
The children in Wales who were living in relative income poverty (after
housing costs), by age of youngest child in household, 2015-16 to 2018-
19
100,000
50,000
30,000
10,000
Age 0-4
Age 5-10
Age 11-15
Age 16-19

7. Larger families are more likely to live in relative
income poverty
• In the most recent period (2016-17 to 2018-19), the likelihood of being in
relative income poverty was higher for those children who lived in a
household with three or more children compared to those who lived in
households with less than three children.
• The likelihood of being in relative income poverty was 44 per cent for
children living in households with three or more children, 27 per cent for
children living in households with one child and 19 per cent for those
children living in households with two children.
• Children that lived in households of three or more children accounted for 45
per cent of all children that were in relative income poverty.

8. Percentage of children in each family size in Wales who were
living in relative income poverty (after housing costs),
three-financial-year averages
Source: Welsh Government Analysis of HBAI, Family Resources Survey, DWP
Trends may be volatile due to small samples
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
2007 to
2010
2008 to
2011
2009 to
2012
2010 to
2013
2011 to
2014
2012 to
2015
2013 to
2016
2014 to
2017
2015 to
2018
2016 to
2019
One child
Two children
Three or more children