Poverty falls, but two million pensioners remain on breadline

AN ESTIMATED two million pensioners in the UK are living in poverty, according to official figures.

But overall, the number of people who are in poverty has fallen by nearly a third, from 2.9m in 1998/99 to two million in 2007/08, the most recent period for which figures are available.

A further one million people aged over 60 who live alone were also in fuel poverty in England in 2007, meaning they had to spend more than 10 per cent of their income on heating, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The ONS analysis found the difference in income for the richest and poorest households was lower for pensioners than for people who were not retired.

But it added that income inequality increased during the past three decades, particularly between 1977 and 1990.

There has also been a pronounced shift in the source of pensioners' income since 1977.

Money from a state pension accounted for 53 per cent of retired people's income in 1977, but just 37 per cent in 2007/8.