Young adults

Last updated: June 2024
Next estimated update: June 2025

What does this indicator show?

This indicator looks at the proportion of 19 year olds without qualifications in Inner and Outer London, as well as the rest of England. We can see this for both Level 2 (equivalent to GCSEs) and Level 3 (equivalent of A Levels) qualifications.

What does it tell us?

Qualification levels of 19-year-olds have significantly improved over time. This is particularly evident in Inner London where the proportion of 19-year-olds without Level 3 qualifications (A Levels and equivalents) has fallen from 61.1% in 2004/05 to 30.7% in 2022/23. However, the COVID-19 pandemic could have had an impact on the last two years, with school closures and changes in the means of assessment.

As a result of this, 19 year-olds in Inner London now perform on a par with young people i…

Last updated: June 2024
Next estimated update: June 2025

What does this indicator show?

This indicator shows the attainment gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students in Inner and Outer London, as well as the rest of England. 

The attainment gap shows how many more students who weren’t disadvantaged gained Level 3 qualifications (equivalent to A Levels) than those who were disadvantaged. For this indicator, someone is counted as disadvantaged if they were eligible for Free School Meals at the end of Key Stage 4.

At the bottom of the page we can see how the attainment gap differs across London boroughs.

What does it tell us?

The attainment gap is lower in Inner London than in Outer London and lower in Outer London than it is in the rest of England. 

In Inner London in 2022/23, disadvantaged students were less likely to have gained Level 3 …

In 2021/22, the majority of London’s KS5 school leavers of both disadvantaged (80%) and non-disadvantaged (86%) backgrounds had Level 3 qualifications (e.g. A-levels).

This is in contrast to the rest of England. A slightly lower proportion (84%) of non-disadvantaged KS5 school leavers had Level 3 qualifications, while only 67% of disadvantaged KS5 school leavers had a Level 3 qualification.

According to the Department for Education, students are considered disadvantaged in Year 11 and attract pupil premium funding if they are eligible for free school meals at any point in the last six years, have been looked after by the local authority, or have been adopted from care.

This indicator shows the difference between the number of people arriving and leaving either Inner and Outer London, by different age groups. A negative number shows that there are more people leaving than arriving.

The latest mid-year figures (the year up to June 2020) show that Inner London experienced the largest net inflows of those aged between 20 and 24 –  with a net inflow of 15,950 people. However, when compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019,  this is almost 10,000 fewer people. Additionally, the next highest inflow levels were for those aged between 25 and 29 in Inner London –  with a net of 5,578 people in 2020. However, this is less than half of the people in comparison to pre-pandemic levels in 2019 (12,107 people).

Outer London saw a net inflow of those aged between 20 and 24 (9,463 similar to the previous year’s 9,360 people…

The number of people sleeping rough in London more than tripled between 2008/09 and 2020/21 from around 3,472 to 11,018. 2021/22 saw the number fall back somewhat to 8,329 but it increased again in 2022/23 to 10,053.

Most people sleeping rough are white, although across the time series the number of BAME people sleeping rough has risen faster than the number of white people. Of the people whose country/continent of origin is known, just under half are British citizens, with people from the rest of Europe making up most of the rest. A large majority (83%) of people sleeping rough in London are men.

More people sleep rough in Central London than in any other part of the capital. This is consistently the case, but the proportion of people sleeping rough who do so in Central London reducing over the 15 year period from more than three quarters…

Last updated: May 2024
Next estimated update: May 2025

What does this indicator show?

This indicator looks at London’s poverty rate among adults, split by their qualification levels.

What does it tell us?

People with higher qualification levels are less likely to live in poverty. In London, 34% of people with less than 5 GCSEs and equivalent as their highest qualifications were in poverty in 2022/23. This compares to 20% of people with 5 GCSEs or higher as their highest qualifications. 

Want to know more?

If you want to explore this data in more depth, check the 'data source and notes' button on the above charts. This will tell you where the data comes from, where you may be able to dig deeper.

Last updated: May 2024
Next estimated update: May 2025

What does this indicator show?

This indicator shows the poverty rate in London by age group. A person is classed as being in poverty if they earn below 60% of the median income. You can find out more about how poverty is measured here.

What does it tell us?

Poverty rates after housing costs were highest among children and young people in 2022/23, in both London and the rest of England.

• In London 140,000 children aged four and under live in households in poverty
• A third (33%) 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 (35% of those aged 10-14 and 37% of those aged 15-19). 

In contrast, 15% of Londoners aged 30-34 live in households that are in poverty - the lowest rate for any age group. 

Poverty rates in London are h…

There is a large variation between London boroughs in terms of the proportion of the working-age population that have degree-level or above qualifications. Lambeth has the highest proportion (71%) of its working-age population with degree-level or above qualifications, whilst Barking and Dagenham has the lowest (26%). In addition, this borough also has the highest proportion of people without any formal qualifications - just over 1 in 10 of the working population in Barking and Dagenham (12%).

Not all boroughs are represented within this chart due to small sample size suppressions in the source data. Further details can be found in the downloadable CSV file.

Ofsted ratings are given to schools by inspectors and range from “Inadequate” to “Outstanding”. Ratings 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.

While 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 London secondary schools, where there is not a clear relationship between schools’ Ofsted rating and the deprivation of the neighbourhood in which they are located, i…

More than one in five 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 …

Last updated: June 2024
Next estimated update: September 2024

What does this indicator show?

This indicator shows the unemployment rate* in London and the rest of England split by age groups. We can use it to see how the unemployment rate among young people (16-24) compares to those aged 25-64 and those aged 65+.

What does it tell us?

Unemployment is much higher among young Londoners than other age groups. It’s also significantly higher than among young people in the rest of England. 

The unemployment rate is 14.6% for young Londoners. Although this is lower than its peak during the COVID years (18.5%), it’s significantly higher than among those aged 25-64 (4.2%). Those aged 25-64 also appear to have been less impacted by the COVID pandemic - they saw a small increase from  3.5% in 2019 to 4.8% in 2020. However, other labour market factors, e.…