Food insecurity
People in poverty struggle to afford enough food, particularly nutritious options needed for healthy diets. Children and lone-parent families are most affected.
Food insecurity is not evenly distributed among people in poverty. In 2023/24, one in three children (33%) experienced food insecurity, compared with 26% of working-age adults. Very low food security affected 17% of children and 14% of working-age adults, while only 7% of pensioners were food insecure, and 2% had very low food security.
Lone-parent families in poverty were most affected, with more than 4 in 10 (46%) experiencing food insecurity. Single adults without children also had elevated rates (29%), compared with working-age couples with children (25%).
Children and people in lone-parent families are both more likely to be in poverty and, among those in poverty, more likely to be food insecure, reflecting additional hardship beyond standard poverty measures.
| Household food security status | In poverty (%) | In poverty (millions) | Not in poverty (%) | Not in poverty (millions) | Poverty rate by food security status (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Food insecure | 25 | 3.5 | 8 | 4.0 | 47 |
| Food secure | 75 | 10.5 | 92 | 48.6 | 18 |
| All | 100 | 14 | 100 | 52.5 | 21 |
| Level of household food security | In poverty (%) | In poverty (millions) | Not in poverty (%) | Not in poverty (millions) | Poverty rate by food security status (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Very low | 13 | 1.9 | 4 | 2.0 | 48 |
| Low | 12 | 1.7 | 4 | 1.9 | 46 |
| Marginal | 12 | 1.6 | 6 | 3.0 | 35 |
| High | 63 | 8.8 | 87 | 45.6 | 16 |
| All | 100 | 14 | 100 | 52.5 | 21 |
Source: Households Below Average Income, 2023/24, DWP
Notes: Shared households (such as a house shared by a group of professionals, summing to 1.0 million individuals in 2023/24) are excluded from household food security tables as there is no food security status available for those households. Figures may not sum due to rounding.
In 2023/24, 25% of people in poverty (around 3.5 million individuals) were food insecure, meaning they were unable to afford enough food or sufficient nutritious food for a healthy diet. Among people not in poverty, only 8% were food insecure.
Food insecurity is closely associated with lacking other essentials. Among working-age adults in poverty, those who are food insecure are far more likely to lack basic items than those who are food secure. For example, 22% of food-secure adults could not afford a small amount of money for themselves weekly, climbing sharply to 74% of those who were food insecure. Recent JRF cost-of-living data (October 2025) showed that 81% of low-income, food-insecure households went without other essentials in the previous 6 months.
Data source
The data on this page is part of the UK poverty statistics dashboard. The data is initially derived from our UK Poverty 2026 report, which includes an Excel download in the appendix.