Two million pensioners in UK live in poverty, says study

Though poverty among pensioners has dropped by a third in the last 10 years, there are still an estimated two million living in poverty, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a study published yesterday.

Poverty is officially defined as living on 60 per cent of the average income, once housing costs have been paid.

 According to a Pension Trends, which looks at inequalities and poverty in retirement, the number of pensioners in poverty has declined over the last decade, from 2.9 million in 1998-99.

The report also says that that there were one million households of single people aged 60 or over in fuel poverty in England in 2007. This was the type of household most affected by fuel poverty.

Households are considered to be in fuel poverty if they have to spend more than 10 per cent of their income on fuel to maintain a satisfactory level of heating in the main living area and other occupied rooms.

As per the ONS study, income distribution is less unequal for retired households than for non-retired households.