Poverty in Scotland 2017

This briefing accompanies UK Poverty 2017, which looks at trends in poverty in the UK as a whole. It finds that:

• Poverty is lower in Scotland than in the rest of the UK and falls in poverty among pensioners and families with children have been greater and more sustained than elsewhere
• More than a third of people in the poorest fifth of the population now spend more than a third of their income on housing
• The gap in attainment among children from the most and least deprived areas is very large and increases as children get older
• Nearly one in five adults in the poorest fifth of the population experience anxiety or depression, far higher than in those who are better off
• The majority of people in the poorest fifth of the population in Scotland do not have any savings or investments, and are not building up a pension