New research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has revealed that Bangladeshi, Black African, and Pakistani families in the UK are significantly more likely to experience long-term severe poverty compared to white families. These ethnic groups are up to five times more likely to live in persistent very deep poverty, a condition defined as living in severe poverty for at least three years out of four.
JRF’s analysis highlights that traditional protective factors, such as employment, are less effective for these groups. While having a job is typically a safeguard against poverty, 7% of Bangladeshi and Black African families with all adults in work still experience persistent very deep poverty.
This is almost as high as the 10% of white households where no one is working. Even among those with secure, permanent jobs, 7% of Bangladeshi, 6% of Black African, and 5% of Pakistani workers still live in persistent very deep poverty, compared to just 2% of white workers in temporary roles.
Housing also plays a significant role in these disparities. While 6% of white private and social renters live in persistent very deep poverty, this figure jumps to 15% for Bangladeshi and Pakistani social renters. For Pakistani private renters, it rises to 17%, and for Black African private renters, it reaches 20%.
JRF’s research, which used official survey data to calculate poverty rates, suggests that factors such as larger family size, being a lone parent, living in rented housing, and having insecure jobs contribute to the higher rates of persistent very deep poverty among these ethnic groups. However, these factors do not fully explain the disparity.
For the first time, the research also identified significant unexplained factors that contribute to the higher rates of poverty among Bangladeshi, Black African, and Pakistani families. Despite accounting for common risk factors, families from these backgrounds are still more likely to experience persistent poverty compared to white families. Specifically, Bangladeshi families are three times more likely, while Black African families are twice as likely to live in long-term severe poverty.
The analysis further revealed that the common risk factors explained a varying degree of the increased risk for each group. For Bangladeshi workers, common risk factors accounted for 70% of the increased risk, while for Pakistani workers, they explained just 31%, and for Black African workers, they accounted for 57%.
JRF concluded that these disparities cannot be fully explained by standard risk factors alone and emphasized the role of structural inequalities, as well as direct discrimination and racism, in contributing to the higher likelihood of persistent poverty for these ethnic groups.
The foundation is calling for a greater focus on addressing these underlying issues to reduce the shockingly high rates of deep poverty among Bangladeshi, Black African, and Pakistani families in the UK.
“We have known for a long time that Bangladeshi, Black African and Pakistani families are more likely than white families to experience some of the key drivers of deep and persistent poverty in the UK – including low-paid, precarious work and expensive, insecure private rented housing,” said Paul Kissack, CEO of Joseph Rowntree Foundation. “But this new analysis shows that these familiar and measurable drivers of poverty cannot fully explain the greater scale and persistence of deep poverty amongst families from these ethnic minority backgrounds.
“Focusing only on these well-known drivers to understand poverty for Bangladeshi, Black African and Pakistani people no longer holds up. Other factors are clearly at play – including ongoing structural inequalities and direct discrimination and racism. We must constantly dig deeper to understand the relationship between racial injustice and poverty. Only by confronting this head on will efforts to eradicate the scourge of deep poverty in our society have any chance of success.”
