Poverty rates for migrant families
Children in migrant families face high and entrenched levels of poverty. Even when their parents are working, they are far less protected from hardship.
In 2023/24, 1 in 2 children in migrant families (50%) were living in poverty, compared with around 1 in 4 children in other families (24%). Children in migrant families were more than twice as likely to experience deep poverty (37% compared with 16%) and very deep poverty (26% compared with 10%).
These figures show that poverty among migrant families is both more widespread and more severe than among non-migrant families.
| Group | Number in poverty | Poverty rate |
|---|---|---|
| Children in migrant families with all adults in work | 500,000 | 28% |
| Children in migrant families with at least one adult in work but not all | 900,000 | 67% |
| Children in migrant families with no adults in work | 400,000 | 88% |
| Children in families with both parents born in UK with all adults in work | 1,100,000 | 14% |
| Children in families with both parents born in UK with at least one adult in work but not all | 800,000 | 37% |
| Children in families with both parents born in UK with no adults in work | 900,000 | 58% |
Source: Family Resources Survey & Households Below Average Income, 2023/24, DWP
Work reduces the risk of child poverty, but it does not provide the same level of protection for children in migrant families. Over three-quarters of children in poverty in migrant families live in households where at least one adult is in work (79%), but even in migrant families where all adults are in work the child poverty rate is 28%, compared to 14% for children in non-migrant families with all adults in work, showing that employment alone is often not enough to lift migrant families out of poverty.
Over the past decade, poverty rates among people born outside the UK have consistently been around twice as high as those among people born in the UK. In 2011/12, 32% of people born outside the UK were living in poverty, compared with 17% of UK-born people.
Although rates have fluctuated slightly over time, the most recent data from 2023/24 shows a similar pattern. Around 31% of people born outside the UK were living in poverty, compared with 16% of those born in the UK. This indicates that the higher poverty risk faced by migrant families has persisted over time.
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.