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Foreign-born people and poverty in the UK

What is the risk of poverty for foreign-born people in the UK?

Written by:
Ceri Hughes and Peter Kenway
Date published:

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.

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