Children

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Childhood obesity is more prevalent in London than England overall. In 2021/22, some 25.8% of children in Year 6 were considered obese in London, compared to 23.4% in England. 

Over the last decade, the prevalence of childhood obesity has risen by 3.3 percentage points in London and 4.2 percentage points in England. The majority of boroughs had a higher prevalence of childhood obesity than England overall in both 2011/12 and 2021/22, although this proportion was higher in 2021/22. 

Public Health England’s latest figures in 2021/22 show that Barking and Dagenham has the highest proportion of childhood obesity out of all London boroughs at 33.2%. The borough also had the second largest rise in c…

Since 2004/05, the number of children in poverty in London who live in private rented accommodation has increased almost threefold to its current level of 280,000 in 2021/22. The proportion of children in poverty in London who live in the private rented sector has increased from 16% in 2004/05 to 41% in 2021/22.

While the number of children in poverty in this group has increased, the poverty rate within this group has decreased over the years; in 2004/05 the poverty rate for children in private rented accommodation in London was 56% and in 2021/22 it was 46%.

The number of London children in poverty living in the social rented sector fell sharply between 2006/07 and 2011/12 (falling by more than 100,000). However, numbers steadily rose until 2019/20 and even though there’s been a decline in 2021/22 the poverty rate amongst this group is st…

Children in poverty by London borough, before and after housing costs

State-educated students in London have higher GCSE attainment rates than those in England as a whole.  74.3% of students in London achieved grades 9-4 (A*-C under the old grading system) in GCSE English and Maths in 2021/22 (down from 75.6% in 2020/21). This is compared to 69% in all of England (down from 72.2% in 2020/21). 

Over three quarters of the London boroughs have a higher GCSE attainment rate than the average rate of England. The boroughs with the highest GCSE attainment rates are Richmond upon Thames, Kingston upon Thames and Sutton, which all saw over 82% of their students achieving grades 9-4 in English and Maths in 2021/22.

Six London boroughs have a lower GCSE attainment rate than the average rate of England. The boroughs with the lowest GCSE attainment rates are Lewisham and Lambeth, with 66.6% and 66.1% of their students ac…

GCSE attainment is higher in London than in England overall. This was true for both boys and girls, students who do not speak English as a first language, students with Special Educational Needs and students from minority ethnic backgrounds.

Attainment decreased from 2020/21 to 2021/22 in London and England across almost all groups. The only exception were Asian students in England overall, whose grades stayed stable. The largest relative fall in attainment was recorded for students with special education needs.

The decrease in grades from 2020/21 to 2021/22 is likely due to a return to normal examination formats after the big disruptions to the education system caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the previous two years, GCSE exams were cancelled; instead, students obtained teacher-produced grades, which very likely contributed to grade in…

The benefit cap limits the amount of benefit that most working-age people can receive. In London the limit is £23,000 per year or £15,410 for single adults with no children. This was reduced in 2015. The benefit cap is applied by either reducing Universal Credit or Housing Benefit (for those not claiming Universal Credit).

The benefit cap reduced the benefits of 21,381 more London families in August 2022 compared to August 2019 (pre-pandemic). This means that the number of families with their benefits capped in London has more than doubled in the last three years.

A possible explanation for this unprecedented increase could be the influx of new households on Universal Credit since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the additional £20 pound per week for those on Universal Credit could place households in a position where their…

In 2018-2020, the average number of deaths per 1,000 live births was higher in England (3.9) than in London (3.4). 

To get to this point, infant mortality rates have fallen significantly in both London and England over the last two decades. In 2001-2003 the rate was slightly higher in London than in England overall, with an average of 5.7 deaths per 1,000 live births, while in England this figure was 5.4. In 2009-2011 the infant mortality rates were on average similar (4.4) in both London and England. 

In the years since, the infant mortality rate has fallen further in London (a reduction of 1death per 1,000 live births) than in England (a reduction of 0.5 deaths per 1,000 live births).

The data is based on three-year averages and therefore data referring to COVID-19 (in 2020) cannot be isolated from the latest datapoint.

Whilst infant mortality rates vary significantly across London boroughs, in all but nine boroughs, they are lower than in England overall. 

The average number of deaths per 1,000 live births in 2019 to 2021 was 3.3 in London, whereas in England it was 3.7. Hammersmith and Fulham is the borough with the highest infant mortality rate in London (6.1 per 1,000 live births). Camden is the London borough with the lowest infant mortality rate (1.7 per 1,000 live births).

Material deprivation is based on a weighted score of responses to questions about what material things - such as a warm winter coat or a safe outdoors space to play - children go without. 

In 2021/22, almost a third (32%) of children living in households in poverty in London are classed as materially deprived (down from 45% in 2018/19), compared with 37% in the rest of England (unchanged). For children who do not live in households in poverty, the proportion of materially deprived children is 12% in London and 10% in the rest of England. 

Almost a half (46%) of children in London in poverty went without a holiday away from home for at least one week a year with their family, the highest rate for any item or activity.

Poverty rates are highest among families made up of single adults with children. In both London and the rest of England 45% of these family types are counted as being in poverty. Other single person household types follow next, with couple households showing lower poverty rates. Couples without children are the least likely to be in poverty - 14% of this family type were in poverty in London for 2021/22.

If we look at the proportion of all families in poverty in London, those with children make up more than half (55%) with single persons without children making up nearly a third (32%).

Children, working age adults and pensioners all have higher rates of poverty in London than in the rest of England. Of the three age groups, children have the highest poverty rates, with 33% of children in London in poverty in 2021/22, compared to 22% of working-age adults and 23% of pensioners. 

In London, poverty rates for children and working-age adults fell between 2011/12 and 2021/22. In the rest of England, poverty rates for children went up in the same time period, and for working-age adults stayed the same.

In both London and the rest of England, the proportion of pensioners in poverty went up in this time period.

Poverty rates after housing costs were highest among children and young people in 2021/22, in both London and the rest of England.

In London:

• 160,000 children aged four and under live in households in poverty
• Almost a third (34%) of children aged 5-9 are in households in poverty
• Over a third of 10-19 year olds live in households that are in poverty (38% of those aged 10-14 and 34% of those aged 15-19).

In contrast, 17% of Londoners aged 30-34 live in households that are in poverty - the lowest rate for any age group.

Poverty rates in London are higher than those in the rest of England for people of most age groups, except for children aged 0-4 and adults aged 30-39 and 60-64.

The impacts of housing costs on poverty in the capital can again be seen by comparing these findings to those from measures of poverty before housing costs (BHC). Poverty …

Households are considered to be below the UK poverty line if their income is below 60% of the median household income after housing costs for that year.

In London people counted as being in poverty most frequently live in working households. This has been consistently the case for the last decade. In 2021/22 we find some 910,000 people in poverty are living in working households whereas just 370,000 in poverty are living in working-age workless households.

A similar pattern is true if we look at children in poverty. 510,000 children in poverty live in households where someone is in work, whereas 160,000 live in workless households.

230,000 pensioners in London are in poverty

Poverty rates vary significantly across different demographic groups in London. The highest poverty rates are experienced by workless families (52%) and households comprised of single people with children (47%). Black and minority ethnic groups are far more likely to be in poverty (33%) than white people (18%), and single pensioners also see a higher than average poverty rate at 30%.

Generally speaking all the groups included here have seen declining poverty rates since 2018/19 (the peak of the overall time series) apart from single pensioners, couples without children and workless families.

Ofsted ratings are given to schools by inspectors and range from “Outstanding” to “Inadequate”. Ratings areThey are based on a range of observations about a school's performance.

This indicator shows that, on average, the better a school’s Ofsted rating is, the less deprived a neighbourhood it tends to be located in.

Whilest this is true across the country, the relationship is less pronounced in London than in the rest of England. This means that children in London who live in deprived neighbourhoods are more likely to have a school with a good Ofsted rating in their neighbourhood than those living in deprived neighbourhoods in the rest of the country.

This is particularly true for secondary schools, where there is not a clear relationship between schools’ Ofsted rating and the deprivation of the neighbourhood in which they are located…

Local authorities, including London boroughs, have legal duties to provide accommodation to people who are homeless. Whilst they are waiting for a permanent solution - such as a home provided by a housing association - local authorities must house them in temporary accommodation. This can be many types of accommodation - such as nightly accommodation, the private rented sector or a bed and breakfast. 

Temporary accommodation over time

Over the last 20 years, the number of households in temporary accommodation has fluctuated over time. After the peak of 63,000 in 2005, the number of households in temporary accommodation drastically decreased up to 2011, when 36,000 households were in temporary accommodation. However, between 2012 and 2020 this number has steadily increased to reach levels close to 2004. In 2020, 60,888 London households wer…

More than one in 5 people living in Inner London (23.1%) are aged between 25 and 34. This compares to just 12.7% of those in the rest of England. More broadly, in Inner London, almost half the population is made up out of those who are in their early twenties to early forties (47.2%), compared to the rest of England where three in 10 (31.1%) are in this age group, and Inner London is home to a higher proportion of young people than Outer London.

This is caused by people moving to Inner London for work early in their careers and then leaving as they start families. The largest five-year age band is 25 to 29 year olds in Inner London, 35 to 39 year olds in Outer London and 50 to 54 year olds in the rest of England. A relatively small proportion of London’s population is over 65; 9.4% in Inner London and 13.6% in Outer London compared to 19.…