Monitoring poverty and social exclusion in Northern Ireland 2006

This is the first in the established Monitoring poverty and social exclusion series to focus on Northern Ireland. The report is built around a set of 50 indicators, which use the latest available data to illustrate both trends over time and differences relating to social class, age and gender.

The material covers a wide range of subjects, with chapters on income poverty, benefit recipiency, employment and pay, disadvantage at work, exclusion from services, housing and neighbourhoods, health and harm, and education.

The report addresses three main questions:

• What are the major trends in Northern Ireland?
• What are the major differences within Northern Ireland?
• How does Northern Ireland compare with Great Britain?

Official data on income poverty in Northern Ireland has only recently become available. Using this data, the authors found that Northern Ireland and Great Britain had similar income poverty rates, despite a very high level of reliance on benefits and low rate of people in paid work in Northern Ireland. The report takes a detailed look at why this is the case.