UK has among lowest rates of 'persistent' poverty in Europe

New poverty figures are allowing the government to claim its jobs recovery is boosting the fortunes of the average Briton.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the UK has one of the lowest rates of "persistent" poverty in Europe, accounting for just 6.5 per cent of the population, or 3.9 million people, in 2014. This is bettered only by Denmark and the Czech Republic, and is lower than all of the other major economies on the continent.

The UK also has the second best "exit rate" for poverty (behind only Denmark), with almost half of those meeting the definition in 2014 lifted out of poverty by the end of that year.

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A fly in the ointment is the "entry rate". Nearly eight per cent of the population fell into poverty for the first time between 2010 and 2013, a figure that's among the highest in Europe, below only Ireland and Greece. In 2014, almost 17 per cent of the UK population were in poverty at some point, a percentage that's just below the EU average.

Over three years, around a third of people in the UK experienced relative poverty in some way. A person is defined as being in relative poverty when their income drops below 60 per cent of the median salary – and they are deemed in 'persistent' poverty when this lasts continuously for three years or more.

Richard Tonkin, head of household and income expenditure statistics at the ONS, said: "In the UK, compared with other countries, people have a relatively high risk of slipping into relative low-income poverty. But high exit rates mean people are much more likely to escape poverty than in other countries."

A government spokesman emphasised the positives, which the Daily Telegraph says can be attributed to higher employment levels in recent years.

The spokesman added: "We are working hard to eliminate child poverty and improve life chances; today's statistics show that our work in this area is paying off and the UK now has one of the lowest levels of persistent poverty in the EU."

But The Guardian pointed to the labour market as the potential reason for the UK scoring poorly on people entering poverty, saying the figures emphasise that strong improvements in unemployment have not fed through into higher wages and that job tenures remain short.