Foreign-born people and poverty in the UK

Drawing on analysis of the Family Resources Survey, this report highlights that foreign-born people are at a higher risk of poverty than UK-born people, across a range of characteristics.

The report shows that, on average over the three-year period to 2013/14:

• there were 7.7 million foreign-born people living in the UK (12.3% of the total population);
• 2.5 million foreign-born people were in poverty (32% of all foreign-born people) – this contrasts with a poverty rate of 19% for UK-born people;
• most (73%) of the foreign-born population who were in poverty had lived in the UK for at least five years;
• the poverty rate for children with foreign-born parents was high, reaching 45% compared with 24% for the children of UK-born parents;
• most (70%) of the children in poverty who lived in foreign-born adult families were born in the UK.