Inequality
The gap between the richest and poorest in London
Key findings
50%
of London's wealth is owned by the richest 10% of its households. The bottom 50% own just over 5%.
8x
greater is the income of someone just in the top 10% in London in comparison to someone just in the bottom 10%.
Overview
Inequality explains the incongruence between two pictures of London: one of the booming centre of global finance and home to many of the world’s rich, and the other of a city with high levels of poverty and deprivation.
Income inequality is significantly greater in London than elsewhere in England. In the three years to 2015/2016, the income of someone just inside the top 10% was eight times higher than someone just inside the bottom 10% of earners, and the top 10% earned more than the bottom 50%. However, the lowest 10% of earners have seen their wages increase since 2011, while median earners and the top 10% have experienced declines.
Wealth inequality is far wider than income inequality in London. 50% of London’s wealth is earned by the richest 10% of its households, while the bottom 50% own just over 5%. And someone just inside the top 10% in terms of wealth owns 295 times more than someone just inside the bottom 10%. This trend is becoming more extreme in London, with the least wealthy 10% of people losing 32% of their wealth over the last two years, compared to a 2% drop across Great Britain. Meanwhile, the wealth of the top 10% in London has increased by 25%.
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From our Twitter
@povertylondon
More working households in London are in poverty than they were a decade ago. The number of adult Londoners in poverty from working families rose from 566,000 to 833,000 between 2005/06 and 2015/16 (a 47% rise). For children, the increase was 303,000 to 477,000 (a 57% rise). pic.twitter.com/gjNTJMVdwQ
23 Apr 2018London’s population is younger than the rest of England’s. London has a lower proportion of people in every age bracket above 45 years than the rest of England. pic.twitter.com/DWQ3g0Gvv8
22 Apr 2018Teenagers are the group who are most likely to be leaving Outer London. pic.twitter.com/JBvdqUKKHl
21 Apr 2018More people moved into than out of London every year since 2004/5. But the main driver of London’s population growth is its birth rate being higher than its death rate pic.twitter.com/H4zfLrooIg
20 Apr 2018New @centreforlondon report finds 70% of Londoners have lived here for 10+ years. More on London’s population at: http://www.trustforlondon.org.uk/data/londons-population-country-birth …
19 Apr 2018