Overview
The City of London (often just called 'the City') is the historic heart of the capital and is now one of the world’s leading financial centres. It is not a borough but is instead run by the historic City of London Corporation and is the smallest local authority in London, both in terms of area (just over a square mile) and resident population (under 10,000). With such a small population, it is not possible to collate many accurate measures of poverty. Nevertheless, from certain perspectives there appears to be little poverty in the City of London, with the lowest rate of working-age adults claiming out-of-work benefits (3.1% in the City compared to 7.7% in London as a whole).
There are, however, respects in which the City of London serves it’s poorest residents badly. No new social housing was built in the City in recent years and there is a high concentration of people sleeping rough with over 400 people recorded in the Square Mile.
The grid below shows how the City of London is performing on key poverty and inequality indicators, in comparison with all London boroughs. Better than average (green) means the City of London is in the top performing third, average (orange) means the middle third, and worse than average (red) the lowest performing third of all the London local authorities.
City of London indicator rankings
People
Infant mortality
Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births
(Data not available)
Premature mortality
Deaths of <75 year olds per 100,000
(Data not available)
Qualifications at 19
19 year olds without level 3 qualifications
(Data not available)
Living standards
Child poverty rate
Child poverty rate (AHC)
Better compared to all London Boroughs (35%)
Better compared to England (29.3%)
Income deprivation
Income deprivation (relative to London overall)
Better compared to all London Boroughs ( 1)
Average compared to England (0.8)
Pay inequality
80:20 ratio of earnings
(Data not available)
Poverty rate
Poverty rate
(Data not available)
Housing
Evictions
Repossessions per 1,000 households
Better compared to all London Boroughs (2.42)
Average compared to England (1.51)
Homeless acceptances
Main homelessness duty owed per 1,000 households
Average compared to all London Boroughs (0.74)
Average compared to England (0.42)
Housing affordability
Median rent as a percentage of median pay
Worse compared to all London Boroughs (46.3%)
Worse compared to England (26.4%)
Housing delivery
Average net affordable, social and discounted housing completions
(Data not available)
Rough sleeping
People seen sleeping rough by outreach
Average compared to all London Boroughs (214)
(Data not available)
Temporary accommodation
Households in temporary accommodation per 1,000
Better compared to all London Boroughs (16.4)
Average compared to England ( 4)
Work
Benefits
Out-of-work benefits
Better compared to all London Boroughs (12.7%)
Better compared to England (12.7%)
Low pay (resident)
Proportion of borough residents' jobs that are low paid
(Data not available)
Unemployment rate
Unemployment rate
(Data not available)
Unemployment rate change
Unemployment rate 3 year change
(Data not available)