NOTEWORTHY FACTS ABOUT UK SOCIETY - the state we are in

UK Wealth distribution, 2006

The top 1% own 25% of national wealth

The top 10% own 52% of total wealth

The top 50% own 94% of total wealth

Income distribution

GINI Index : 0= perfect equality, 100 = perfect inequality (One person owns all the wealth)

In Europe, only Greece has more unequal income distribution than Britain. The US stands out as having the highest level of inequality in the developed world

Relative wealth and poverty

• Since 1970, area rates of poverty and wealth in Britain have changed significantly. Britain is moving back towards levels of inequality in wealth and poverty last seen more than 40 years ago.
• Over the last 15 years, more households have become poor, but fewer are very poor. Even though there was less extreme poverty, the overall number of 'breadline poor' households increased - households where people live below the standard poverty line. This number has consistently been above 17 per cent, peaking at 27 per cent in 2001.
• Already-wealthy areas have tended to become disproportionately wealthier. There is evidence of increasing polarisation, where rich and poor now live further apart. In areas of some cities over half of all households are now breadline poor.
• There has been slower change in wealth patterns overall. The national percentage of 'asset wealthy' households fell slightly in the early 1990s but rose dramatically between 1999 and 2003 - 23 per cent of households are now wealthy in terms of housing assets.
• The general pattern is of increases in social equality during the 1970s, followed by rising inequality in the 1980s and 1990s. Changes since 2000 are less clear.
• Urban clustering of poverty has increased, while wealthy households have concentrated in the outskirts and surrounds of major cities, especially those classified as 'exclusive wealthy', which have been steadily concentrating around London.
• Both poor and wealthy households have become more and more geographically segregated from the rest of society.
• 'Average' households (neither poor nor wealthy) have been diminishing in number and gradually disappearing from London and the south east.

Source: Joseph Rowntree Foundation

Poverty Facts

Poverty is defined as income of less than 60% of median household income. In 2006, this was £103 per week for a single person and £301 per week for two adults with two children.

• In the 8 years to 2006, over 33% of the population experienced poverty at least once
• In 2004/5, 3.4 million children are living in poor households - this has reduced from 4.1 million in 1998/9. Of these, 41% are in two parent households where at least one member works, and 34% in lone parent families without work.

Crime and imprisonment

Number of prisoners per 100 thousand population

Number of prisoners per 100 thousand (2001) and incidence of crime

There appear to be no causal links between incidence of crime and imprisonment

Source: Home Office/Council of Europe 2003

Voting in last Parliamentary election, %

UK had the lowest voter turnout in Europe

Trust in democratic representatives %

Trust in other people generally - 10=very high, 0=very low

Upper secondary education attainment aged 25 to 64 %

Minimum standards

27% of 19 year olds fail to reach the minimum stsandard of NVQ2

25% of 16 year olds are not in education or training programmes

Access to higher education: % from unskilled and professional households

Percentage of people with a degree by parental income, 1999

Education, skills, earnings and economic performance

From Britain's record on skills, Layard, McIntosh, & Vignoles

%adult population who are functionally illiterate and inumerate

% of 17-year-olds involved in any formal maths study

Productivity per hour

The UK lags behind Germany and France by about 20% and the US by about 40%. The researchers assess that this is a result of low capital investment and poor education and skills.

Hourly wages (£'s)

Employment

There have been considerable changes in the distribution of occupations in the economy between 1995 and 2005.

• The number of men employed in skilled trades and semi-skilled process and plant operations has dropped considerably
• The number of men employed in elementary occupations has increased considerably
• There has been considerable growth for men and women in sales and customer service occupations
• There has been a considerable increase for men and women in intermediate occupations such as section head and supervisor
• There has been a marked drop for women in secretarial and administrative work.

Whilst the numbers of men and women employed in professional, senior managerial and associate professional work has grown considerably, the opportunities for men in skilled and semi-skilled occupations have significantly decreased, to be replaced by work in 'customer services', and unskilled work in services such as hospitality, security and cleaning. For women, there has been a marked decrease in secretarial and administrative work and rapid increases in sales, customer and personal service work.

Trade Union Membership % working population

Immigration and emigration, 2005

Inflow to Britain - 590,000 people

Outflow - 350, 000

Human development Index

In the UN Human Development Index, which measures how countries convert their wealth into educational, health and life expectancy outcomes, the UK comes 18^th, trailing behind the US, Japan and most of Europe.

Sources

Joseph Rowntree Foundation, EurLIFE, Eurostat, "Britain's record on skills", Layard, McIntosh and Vignobles, UN, EU, OECD.