Where the UK stands · OECD · each country's latest reported year
What share of people in the UK live below half the median income?
United Kingdom: 12.6% % of people below 50% of median disposable income, 17th of 38 (2023).
Relative poverty rate: every country in the OECD's table with a figure within three years of the newest year published; each country's newest year is used and named on the row, highest first. 38 rows. Equal figures share a rank and are printed as ties; the order within a tie is alphabetical and means nothing. The highlighted row is United Kingdom, 17th of 38.
| # | Name | % of people below 50% of median disposable income | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Costa Rica | 21.3% | 2025 |
| 2 | Brazil | 19.2% | 2022 |
| 3 | United States | 18.1% | 2023 |
| 4 | Israel | 17.2% | 2023 |
| 5 | Chile | 16.3% | 2022 |
| 6 | Latvia | 16.2% | 2023 |
| 7 | Lithuania | 15.6% | 2023 |
| 8 | Mexico | 15.0% | 2022 |
| 9 | Croatia | 15.0% | 2023 |
| 10 | Korea | 14.9% | 2023 |
| 11 | Bulgaria | 14.6% | 2023 |
| 12 | Estonia | 14.4% | 2023 |
| 13 | New Zealand | 14.3% | 2022 |
| 14 | Spain | 14.1% | 2023 |
| 15 | Türkiye | 13.2% | 2022 |
| 16 | Romania | 12.7% | 2023 |
| 17 | United Kingdom | 12.6% | 2023 |
| 18 | Italy | 12.6% | 2023 |
| 19 | Canada | 12.2% | 2023 |
| 20 | Greece | 12.0% | 2023 |
| 21 | Portugal | 11.4% | 2023 |
| 22 | Germany | 11.3% | 2023 |
| 23 | Switzerland | 9.8% | 2023 |
| 24 | Hungary | 9.7% | 2023 |
| 25 | Luxembourg | 9.6% | 2023 |
| 26 | Austria | 9.3% | 2023 |
| 27 | Poland | 8.8% | 2023 |
| 28 | Slovenia | 8.8% | 2023 |
| 29 | France | 8.7% | 2023 |
| 30 | Finland | 8.4% | 2024 |
| 31 | Slovak Republic | 8.3% | 2023 |
| =32 | Netherlands | 7.9% | 2024 |
| =32 | Norway | 7.9% | 2023 |
| 34 | Sweden | 7.9% | 2024 |
| 35 | Ireland | 7.0% | 2023 |
| 36 | Denmark | 6.3% | 2022 |
| 37 | Belgium | 6.3% | 2023 |
| 38 | Czechia | 5.5% | 2023 |
What this table establishes
The table establishes the share of each country's population below half its median disposable income.
It does not establish why countries differ, what any country should spend or provide, or that a rank is a judgement on a health or economic system.
How it is made
Each row is the figure the publisher printed, in % of people below 50% of median disposable income. Rows are ordered highest first; nothing is estimated, weighted or adjusted by Civometry.
A relative measure: the line is half of each country's own median, so it moves with the median. Survey years differ.
Source: OECD, OECD Income Distribution Database · OECD terms and conditions (free reuse with attribution). Period: each country's latest reported year. The rank is Civometry’s ordering of published figures, not a judgement on anyone in the table.
United Kingdom: 12.6% % of people below 50% of median disposable income, 17th of 38 (2023).