All people
1 in 6
Exact figure: 17%
940,000 people
A free, independent guide to poverty in Scotland
Nearly a million people in Scotland live in poverty.
Scotland Counted explains poverty, work and living costs in ordinary words. See what is happening in your area, understand who can change what, use the free calculators and read plain-English explainers. Then we find your MP and MSP and write both emails for you. It takes about a minute.
We find the right people and write the emails for you. We do not save your postcode.
Right now
1 in 6
people in Scotland
17%
exact
figure
Around 940,000 people did not have enough money left once housing was paid for. Scottish Government, 2022–25.
32
council areas
57
MP areas
10
years of figures
100%
sourced
Start here · 4 minutes
Nearly a million people, and most of them work
Four minutes on what is actually happening here, and what you can do about it. Why one in six people are in poverty once the rent is paid, why three in four children in poverty have a working parent, how far it changes between one council and the next, and how to put a question to your MP and MSP in about a minute.
Rather have the argument about your bills? Where the money actually went is six minutes on energy profits, supermarket fuel margins and what the ONS, the IMF and the competition watchdog found.
6 questions · 90 seconds
How much do you actually know?
Official figures about the country you live in. Almost nobody gets them right, and the gap between what people assume and what is true is the whole problem.
Glasgow
1/6
How many of Glasgow's children are growing up in poverty?
Pass it on
Send this to someone who thinks poverty means not working
Every figure on it is on this site with the organisation that published it. Three in four children in poverty live with someone who works — that one fact changes the argument, and almost nobody knows it.
Free to reuse with credit. Made for a phone screen, so it fits a story or a post as it is.
Find your place
How many children are poor where you live
Every council area in Scotland. Pick yours and you get the short answer first, then the full figures, the source, and a ready-written email for the people who represent you.
Each figure is the share of children living in poverty after rent or mortgage is paid, in 2023/24. Highest first.
the longer the shading, the higher the rate
Glasgow City1st of 3236.1%Clackmannanshire2nd of 3228.5%Dundee City3rd of 3226.1%West Dunbartonshire4th of 3225.2%Falkirk5th of 3225.1%Fife6th of 3225%North Lanarkshire7th of 3224.9%Midlothian8th of 3224.6%North Ayrshire9th of 3224.3%West Lothian10th of 3224.1%Angus11th of 3224.1%East Ayrshire12th of 3223.6%Moray13th of 3223%City of Edinburgh14th of 3222.8%Dumfries and Galloway15th of 3222.7%Inverclyde16th of 3222.4%East Lothian17th of 3222.1%Highland18th of 3222.1%Scottish Borders19th of 3221.5%Argyll and Bute20th of 3221.2%Renfrewshire21st of 3221%South Ayrshire22nd of 3220.7%Stirling23rd of 3220.4%Na h-Eileanan Siar24th of 3219.7%South Lanarkshire25th of 3219.5%Perth and Kinross26th of 3219.2%Aberdeen City27th of 3219.1%Orkney Islands28th of 3218.6%Aberdeenshire29th of 3215%East Dunbartonshire30th of 3214.9%Shetland Islands31st of 3214.5%East Renfrewshire32nd of 3212%
Across Scotland
Poverty is not rare, and it is not one kind of person
It can mean working, paying the rent and still not having enough left for heating, travel, clothes or an unexpected bill.
It affects children, adults and pensioners. The easy-to-picture number comes first. The exact figure stays beside it for anyone who wants to check.
Children
1 in 5
Exact figure: 21%
Working-age adults
1 in 6
Exact figure: 18%
Pensioners
1 in 8
Exact figure: 13%
See the exact figures and sources
The official measure calls this relative poverty after housing costs. It means a household has less than 60% of the usual UK income after rent or mortgage costs. The source is Poverty and Income Inequality in Scotland 2022–25, Scottish Government.
Work and poverty
3 in 4
children in poverty live with someone who works
Official Scottish Government figures, 2022–25
What that tells us
A job does not always pay enough to live on
A job can be low-paid, offer too few hours or change from week to week. Rent, food and energy can rise faster than wages. Benefits can also fall short.
Low pay
Too few hours
Bills rising faster
Every area page shows poverty, out-of-work benefits, the legal minimum wage and a carefully labelled ONS pay estimate. See the figures where you live.
Glasgow · its own record
Glasgow has been hit hardest
Scotland-wide figures matter, but they must not hide what has happened in Glasgow. It has the highest rate and the steepest ten-year rise of any Scottish council area.
Children in poverty
36.1%
more than 1 in 3 children in Glasgow
39,319 children
The worst rate in Scotland — and the biggest rise
+9.0 points
rise in Glasgow over ten years
+1.7 points
rise across Scotland
The Glasgow record also follows work, benefits, wages, neighbourhoods and life expectancy. It shows what changed, why the city was hit harder and which government made which decisions.
Your voice counts
Your MP and MSP work for you
You do not need to have voted for them. You do not need to understand politics. Answering people who live in their area is part of the job.
A written question also leaves a dated reply you can keep and check later. That is more useful than another promise made in passing. See what happens after you send it.
Your MP is paid
£98,599
a year, from public money
Your MSP is paid
£77,711
a year, from public money
No faff
From postcode to two ready emails
We find the right people
Your postcode tells us your MP, MSP and council area. You do not need to know any of them.
We add the proof
The email includes your area's official figure and sends each question to the person who controls it.
You stay in control
Both emails open in your own email app. Read them, change anything you want, then press send.
Ready when you are
Put in your postcode. We do the rest.
We find the right people and write the emails for you. We do not save your postcode.
Free, no sign-up
Work out your own numbers
Nothing you type is sent anywhere. Both sums happen in your browser.
Straight answers
What people ask first
How many people live in poverty in Scotland?
About 1 in 6 people. The exact figure is 17%, or around 940,000 people, after rent or mortgage costs in 2022–25.
Is this only about child poverty?
No. The site also covers adults, pensioners, work, out-of-work benefits, pay, housing and health. Child poverty is used for local comparisons because it is the best reliable local measure available.
Why do local pages lead with child poverty?
The main poverty survey can tell us about Scotland as a whole, but not each local area safely. Child-poverty figures use benefit and tax records, so every council area can be compared in the same way.
Who has the power to reduce poverty?
The UK Government, Scottish Government and councils each decide different things. You do not need to know which is which: enter your postcode and the site sends each request to the right person.
What happens to the postcode I enter?
It is used only to find your area, MP and MSP. The site does not save it. Anything you add stays in your browser and your own email app.