What is poverty?

Individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be in poverty when they lack resources to obtain the type of diet, participate in the activities and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or at least widely encouraged and approved, in the societies in which they belong.
Peter Townsend - sociologist and anti-poverty campaigner

Poverty is about money. It is a relative concept: what a family needs to look after their children and participate in society will depend on what others around them have.

Poverty can affect every aspect of a child’s life, from growing up in cramped, damp homes to going without a warm winter coat and being left behind when there are school trips.

The standard way to measure child poverty uses relative household income. A child is said to be living in poverty if they live in a household with income below 60 per cent of the national average (median) income.

There are other ways of measuring poverty, including:

absolute poverty or 'anchored' poverty - where the poverty line stays the same over time in real terms
material deprivation indicators and things like food bank use
measures of the depth and persistence of poverty

Help us end child poverty

Together as a community, we’re demanding real action from the UK’s leaders to give kids the security they need by helping families who don’t have enough money.