For a person to be in relative income poverty it means they are living in a household where the total household income from all sources is less than 60 per cent of the average UK household income (as given by the median).

1. Relative income poverty
ethnicity and disability
Relative income poverty
Ethnicity and disability

2. Non-white ethnicity is linked with a greater
likelihood of relative income poverty
• In the latest period (2012-13 to 2016-17, an average of 5 financial years) working-age adults who
were living in households where the head of the household was from a non-white ethnic group were
more likely to be in relative income poverty compared with those where the head of the household
was from a white ethnic group.
• There was a 36 per cent likelihood of working-age adults from a non-white ethnic group living in
relative income poverty compared to a 23 per cent likelihood for those from a white ethnic group in
2012-13 to 2016-17.
• Children from households where the head of the household was from a non-white ethnic group were
twice as likely to be in relative income poverty, after housing costs, than those from a household
where the head of the household was from a white ethnic group. This might be partly explained by
differences in employment status (http://gov.wales/statistics-and-research/review-evidence-
inequality-wales/?lang=en) between white and non-white ethnic groups.*
• However, because the vast majority of households in Wales have a head who is from a white ethnic
group, most people (96 per cent) who were living in relative income poverty were from such
households.
Please note that some figures in the associated tables must be interpreted with caution given the low sample sizes. For
this reason, we were not able to produce robust figures for pensioners by ethnic group of head of household.
*Although the most recent figure is suppressed due to a small sample size, this is the trend seen in previous years.

3. Living with a person who has a disability makes
relative income poverty more likely for children and
working age people
• In the survey data, disabled people are identified as those who report any
physical or mental health condition or illness that are expected to last 12 months
or more, and which limit their ability to carry out day-to-day activities a little, or a
lot. This is in line with the Equality Act definition.
• In the latest period (2014-15 to 2016-17), 34 per cent of children who lived in a
household where there was someone with a disability were in relative income
poverty compared with 26 per cent in households where no-one was disabled.
• 33 per cent of working-age adults who lived in a household where there was
someone with a disability were in relative income poverty compared with 19 per
cent of those who lived in a household where no-one was disabled.