Background to the Research

• While NI has been recognised as one of the most deprived parts of the UK, it does not have a tradition of publishing household income data which would allow comparisons with other regions in the UK and with other countries. The Poverty and Social Exclusion survey, on which the report was based, was carried out to redress this gap and to measure the nature and extent of poverty in NI.
• The core aims of the research were:
  • To provide a baseline measure of poverty and social exclusion which can be updated in the future.
  • To provide data on the extent to which poverty and social exclusion vary across the 9 dimensions of equality specified within Section 75 of the NI Act 1998.
  • To compare poverty levels in NI with Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
    

Research Approach

• Two surveys were carried out between June 2002 and January 2003.
• In the first survey, a random sample of people were asked to indicate which material items and social activities they regarded as necessities of life at the start of the 21st century. These responses were used to construct indicators of items and activities that everyone in NI should not have to do without.
• The second survey identified the proportion of households in NI lacking particular necessities.
  

Main Findings

• In general, 'poor households' were those deprived of at least three necessities and having a low income. The average equivalised income for poor households was £156.27 per week.
• On this consensual measure of poverty:
  • 29.6% of households in NI were poor.
  • Well over one-third (37.4%) of children in NI are growing up in poor households.
  • Over two-thirds (67%) of lone parents are in poverty.
  • 29% of women but only 25% of men are in poor households.
  • Over half (56%) of households containing one or more disabled people are in poverty, compared with 29% containing no-one with a disability.
  • Catholics are 1.4 times as likely as Protestants to live in poor households.
  • 43% of Sinn F³in supporters live in poverty, as against 19% of those who support the Ulster Unionist Party.
  • The richest 40% of households together possess 67% of the total household income in NI.
  • The poorest 40% of households have one-sixth (17%) of total household income.
  • Poverty rates in NI are higher than in Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.
  • NI is one of the most unequal societies in the developed world.