The bigger picture – Deprivation in Britain today
- 12 million people in Britain live in poverty, including 3.8 million children.
- 1.75 million children in Britain live in workless households.The UK has a higher proportion of its children living in workless households than any other EU country.
- Official figures estimate that 459 people are sleeping rough on any given night in England. However, a Government report has acknowledged that the real number is likely to be at least ten times higher than this.
- One in five people over the age of 65 spends more than 12 hours on their own every day, resulting in isolation, depression and ill-health.
- One in eight older people do not get out of their homes more than once a week.
- Teenage parents are more likely than their peers to be living in poverty and unemployment and have difficulty escaping it because of lack of education, child care and encouragement.
- Teenage pregnancy rates in England are the highest in Western Europe; one in every 10 babies in England is born to a teenage mother.
Sources: New Policy Institute; Shelter; Help the Aged; Brook; NHS; ODPM.
