Overview
Lewisham is an inner London borough located south of the river Thames. It has one of the highest proportion of working-age residents on out-of-work benefits at 14.4%. Across London, this proportion is 12.2%. However, the proportion of children in poverty (42%) is slightly above the London average (39%).
At 40.9%, a large proportion of 19 year-olds in Lewisham do not have a level 3 qualification and only 58.1% of GCSE students achieve grades between 9-4 (equivalent to A*-C under the old system) in English and Maths. This is below the London rate of 68.7%.
The grid below shows how Lewisham compares against London overall on key poverty and inequality indicators. Red text denotes the fact that Lewisham is worse than is typical for London on that indicator, and blue means it is better.