The scale of economic inequality in the UK
Back to Topic
Click to Print
Useful Websites
Glossary Term Selection
UK income inequality
The UK has a very high level of income inequality compared to other developed countries.
Households in the bottom 10% of the population have on average a net income of £9,277. The top 10% have net incomes over nine times that (£83,897). As can be seen from the graph, income inequality is much starker at the top of the income scale, with the group with the ninth highest incomes making only 60% of the top 10%’s income. Inequality is much higher amongst original income than net income with the poorest 10% having on average an original income of £4,467 whilst the top 10% have an original income 24 times larger (£107,597).1
Differences within the top 1%
The top 1% have incomes substantially higher than the rest of those in the top 10%. In 2012, the top 1% had an average income of £253,927 and the top 0.1% had an average income of £919,882.2
How income is shared
The poorest fifth of society have only 8% of the total income, whereas the top fifth have 40%.
Income sprea...
Want to see the rest of this article?
Would you like to see the rest of this article and all the other benefits that Issues Online can provide with?
- Useful related articles
- Video and multimedia references
- Statistical information and reference material
- Glossary of terms
- Key Facts and figures
- Related assignments
- Resource material and websites
