One in four Londoners are living in poverty.
At 26%, London's poverty rate is the highest out of all England's regions. This has consistently been the case for the last 20 years.
This often surprises people. London is seen as a place of great wealth and opportunity. And this is true - but for millions of Londoners, day-to-day life is difficult.
Poverty rates by region (2023/24)
London's poverty rate has stayed stubbornly persistent
Through successive decades and governments, the capital's poverty rate has stayed stubbornly high. At 26%, London's poverty rate is just 1 percentage point lower than it was 20 years ago (2003/04).
Poverty is, however, slightly lower than it was in the late 90s, when it peaked at 30%.
London poverty rates before and after housing costs (1996/97 - 2023/24)
Higher levels of poverty in East and North London
London is a deeply unequal city, and levels of poverty range a great deal from one borough to the next.
As we can see from the maps below, several inner London boroughs, and boroughs in the north and east of the city, have higher levels of poverty. In boroughs like Tower Hamlets, Newham and Westminster, around 40% of people are in poverty.
On the other side of the coin, boroughs with lower levels of poverty form a ring on the outside of the city, especially in the South and South West. In Bromley and Richmond below, for example, the poverty rate is well below 20%.
Camden, Westminster, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hounslow, Redbridge, Brent, Barking and Dagenham, Enfield, and Ealing all have poverty rates higher than the London average
Bromley, Richmond upon Thames, Merton, Sutton, Havering, Islington, Bexley, Southwark, Hillingdon and Croydon all have poverty rates lower than the London average.
Now that we've explored just how common poverty is in London, let's dive a little bit deeper and look at which groups are most affected.