A report out today shows that the number of Scotland’s pensioners living in poverty….
A report out today shows that the number of Scotland’s pensioners living in poverty in year 2008/09 fell by 5%. The drop, from 21% to 16%, represents a reduction of 50,000 individuals.
The report by Scotland’s Chief Statistician presents annual estimates for the proportion and number of children, working age adults and pensioners living in low income households in Scotland. The estimates are used to measure progress towards UK and Scottish Government targets to reduce poverty and income inequality.
The reports main findings showed that there was little change in overall levels of poverty and income inequality in Scotland between 2004-05 and 2008-09. The percentage of people in relative poverty (before housing costs) remained at 17 percent of the population between 2007-08 and 2008-09
However, between 2007-08 and 2008-09 slight increases were recorded in two of the three indicators used to measure child poverty in Scotland, the third recorded a slight decrease.
There was also a marginal 1% increase in the proportion of working age adults in relative poverty (before housing costs), that figure rose from 15 to 16 percent; an increase of 30 thousand individuals.