Project summaries

Indicators of poverty and social exclusion in rural England

Most of the indicators reveal significant levels of poverty and social exclusion in rural England.

Rural low income statistics

18% of the rural population (2.6 million people) live in households with incomes below the government’s main threshold of low income.
23% of children (700,000 children) live in households below the low income threshold. 9% of children live in households where no one is in work.
25% of pensioners (600,000 pensioners) live in households below the low income threshold. 10% have no incomes other than state pensions and benefits.
45% of people on low income (1.2 million people) live in households where at least one of the adults is in paid work.
45% of lone parent households are below the low income threshold.
9% of working-age adults are in receipt of either means-tested benefits (5%) or tax credits (4%).

Rural work statistics

3% of those aged 25 to retirement are officially (ILO) unemployed (180,000 people), while 4½% are economically inactive but want paid work (340,000 people).
7½% of 18-24 year-olds (60,000 young adults) are officially (ILO) unemployed.
65% of heads of households in social housing have no paid work (compared to 35% of those in other tenures).
10% of employees without educational qualifications received job-related training over a three-month period (compared to 30% of those with qualifications).

Rural education statistics

23% of 16-year-olds attain no GCSEs below a grade D, while 4% pass no GCSEs at all.
23% of 19-year-olds fail to achieve a basic level qualification (NVQ2 equivalent).
13% of those aged 25 to retirement have no educational qualifications.

Rural health and wellbeing indicators

1 in 200 babies born to parents with manual occupations die before their first birthday.
Around 100 children suffer accidental deaths each year.
Around 100 young adults commit suicide each year.
6% of young adults report using class A drugs.

Rural community statistics

10% of lone parent households are burgled every year (compared to 2% of households on average).
40% of poor households lack home contents insurance (compared to 20% of households on average).
10% of poor households lack central heating (compared to 7% of households on average).

Overall pattern

For each of those indicators where a comparison is possible, the table below summarises:

How the rural and urban percentages compare.
How the ‘remote rural’ and ‘accessible rural’ percentages compare.

Key points from such comparisons include:

Overall, there is less poverty and social exclusion in rural authorities than urban authorities: the rural statistic is better than the urban one on 30 of 51 occasions, similar on 18, and worse on 3. The three statistics which are worse in rural authorities are:
- Indicator 17: proportion of young adults committing suicide.
- Indicator 31: proportion of older people who receive help from social services to live at home.
- Indicator 36b: proportion of non-drivers who believe that public transport needs improving.
Nevertheless, on nearly all of the indicators, there are significant levels of poverty and exclusion in rural authorities, both remote rural and accessible. For example the share of people living in low income households is 18% in rural England compared to 24% in urban areas – three-quarters the level.
For some indicators, levels of disadvantage are significantly less in rural than urban areas. Examples include receipt of benefits, workless households, lack of bank accounts, burglaries, dissatisfaction with the local area and homelessness.
Over many of the indicators, ‘remote rural’ areas are noticeably more disadvantaged than ‘accessible rural’ areas: the ‘remote rural’ statistic is worse than the ‘accessible rural’ one on 20 of 36 occasions, similar on 22 and better on 5 (with 4 for which remote/accessible comparisons are not possible). More specifically:
- ‘Remote rural’ areas are worse than, or similar to, ‘accessible rural’ authorities for all of the income, work, health and housing indicators.
- ‘Remote rural’ areas are better than, or similar to, ‘accessible rural’ authorities for all the crime-related indicators and most of the education indicators.

Chapter	Subject	Subject	Urban or rural worse?	Remote or accessible worse?	Indicator
Income	Income	Levels of low income	Similar	Similar	1
		Numbers in low income	Urban	Remote	2a
		Risk of low income by economic status	Similar	Similar	2b
		Risk of low income by family type	Urban	Remote	2c
		Persistent low income	Similar	Remote	6
	Benefits	In receipt of means-tested benefits	Urban	Remote	4
	Benefits	Long-term recipients of benefits	Urban	Remote	5
Children	Economic circumstances	In low income households	Urban	Remote	9
		Risk of low income by economic status and family type	Similar	Similar	14
		In workless households	Urban	Remote	8
	Health	Infant mortality	Urban	Similar	11
	Health	Accidental deaths	Similar	Remote	11
	Education	Low attainment at school (16-year-olds)	Urban	Similar	12
		Low attainment at school (11-year-olds)	Similar	Similar	12
		Exclusions from school	Urban	Accessible	13
		Truancy	Urban	Accessible	13
		Statutory care-leavers with no qualifications	Urban	Accessible	16a
	Social cohesion	Children ‘at risk’	Similar	Remote	16b
Young adults	Work	Unemployment	Urban	Similar	17
	Health	Suicides	Rural	Remote	21
	Health	Drug misuse	Urban	N/a	20
	Education	Without a basic qualification	Urban	Remote	22
	Social cohesion	Pregnancies under-18	Urban	Similar	15
Working-age adults
	Work	Wanting paid work	Urban	Remote	24a
		Disadvantaged groups	Urban	Remote	24b
		Long-term workless households	Urban	Remote	25
		Insecure at work	Similar	Remote	27
		Without access to training	Similar	Similar	28a
	Education	Without educational qualifications	Urban	Similar	28b
	Health	Premature death	Urban	Remote	29
Older people	Economic circumstances	In low income households	Similar	Similar	33a
		With no private income	Urban	Similar	33b
		Working age contributions to pensions	Similar	Similar	33b
	Health	Excess winter deaths	Similar	Similar	35
	Crime	Fear of crime	Urban	Similar	37
	Services	Help from social services to live at home	Rural	Similar	38
	Services	Without a telephone	Similar	N/a	39
Communities	Social cohesion	Non-participation	Similar	Accessible	40
		Polarisation by housing tenure (work)	Similar	Similar	41
		Polarisation by housing tenure (income)	Similar	Similar	41
		Spending on travel	Similar	N/a	42
		Dissatisfaction with public transport	Rural	Remote	42
		Without a bank account	Urban	Similar	43
		Without household insurance	Urban	Similar	45
	Crime	Burglary and violent crime	Urban	N/a	44
		Dissatisfaction with the local area	Urban	Accessible	46
		Fear of crime	Urban	Similar	46
	Housing	Without central heating	Urban	Remote	47
		Households in temporary accommodation	Urban	Similar	49
		Vulnerable mortgage holders	Similar	Remote	50

top