AQW 19880/22-27


Ms Kate Nicholl
Alliance Party
South Belfast


Tabled Date: 13/12/2024
Answered On Date: 06/01/2025
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister for Communities to detail the number of (i) adults; (ii) and children living in (a) relative poverty; and (b) absolute poverty in the last five years, broken down by local council area.


Answer:
Official measures of absolute and relative poverty for NI are derived from the Family Resources Survey (FRS). Due to the uncertainty around estimates at lower levels, the Department only publishes poverty rates at local council area level for the whole NI population, and not specifically for adults.
Further information regarding the Family Resources Survey and NI poverty statistics can be found at the link below.
https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/topics/family-resources-survey-and-poverty-analysis
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) annually release official statistics for “Children in low income families: local area statistics”. The number of children in each local authority in NI estimated to be living in poverty in the last five years are presented in the tables below.
Table 1: Estimated Number of Children (aged under 16) living in Relative
Poverty (Before Housing Costs), by Local Authority, 2018/19 to 2022/23
Local Authority
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23 (p)
Antrim and Newtownabbey
4,808
5,012
5,271
4,663
4,922
Ards and North Down
4,764
5,016
5,227
4,424
4,495
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon
8,977
8,762
10,509
9,027
9,453
Belfast
16,733
16,417
15,458
14,586
15,327
Causeway Coast and Glens
5,847
5,752
6,367
5,519
5,827
Derry City and Strabane
8,491
7,792
7,625
6,840
6,944
Fermanagh and Omagh
4,721
4,920
5,543
4,819
4,935
Lisburn and Castlereagh
3,737
4,075
4,274
3,708
3,893
Mid and East Antrim
4,709
5,032
5,244
4,488
4,695
Mid Ulster
5,826
6,143
7,107
6,263
6,491
Newry, Mourne and Down
8,723
8,734
9,780
8,680
9,002
(p) provisional
Table 2: Estimated Number of Children (aged under 16) living in Absolute
Poverty (Before Housing Costs), by Local Authority, 2018/19 to 2022/23
Local Authority
2018/19
2019/20
2020/21
2021/22
2022/23 (p)
Antrim and Newtownabbey
3,933
4,041
3,963
3,618
3,868
Ards and North Down
3,864
3,981
3,863
3,357
3,438
Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon
7,453
7,109
8,011
7,044
7,516
Belfast
13,420
12,936
11,064
10,973
11,835
Causeway Coast and Glens
4,826
4,674
4,818
4,251
4,611
Derry City and Strabane
7,071
6,167
5,611
5,280
5,457
Fermanagh and Omagh
3,934
4,154
4,402
3,800
4,063
Lisburn and Castlereagh
3,050
3,296
3,214
2,828
3,006
Mid and East Antrim
3,903
3,992
3,994
3,503
3,791
Mid Ulster
4,932
5,002
5,501
4,997
5,294
Newry, Mourne and Down
7,338
7,142
7,597
6,973
7,330
(p) provisional
Further information regarding the Children in Low Income Families (CILIF) statistics can be found at the link below.
www.gov.uk/government/collections/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics