Is poverty falling?

Poverty is no longer falling in Scotland. Since 2004/05, on the whole, there has been no reduction in either relative poverty or absolute poverty in Scotland. In the decade leading up to 2004/05, Scotland experienced significant reductions in the number of children living in poverty. The number of children living in poverty in Scotland has not reduced since 2004/05. The latest data, for 2008/09, shows that after housing costs are taken into account, more than one in four of Scotland’s children live in poverty
(26 per cent). One in six children in Scotland live with income poverty/material deprivation combined (16 per cent), while, using the government’s preferred before housing costs measure, more than one in five children in Scotland live in relative poverty (21 per cent). Reduction in absolute poverty in Scotland over the last decade is much more marked than reduction in relative poverty. Although this suggests that standards of living may be rising for people experiencing poverty, the lower marked progress with relative poverty suggests that many people still have an income that would not allow them to enjoy what is considered to be necessary to participate without undue restriction in Scottish society. European comparisons suggest that the poverty risk in Scotland is marginally higher than that in Europe as a whole. Scotland fares less favourably when compared with those European nations (Scandinavian and other small European nations) against which it often seeks to compare national performance