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Who are we? · Groups · United Kingdom

Where do people whose head of household’s ethnic group is “Chinese” sit in the income distribution?

32% of people whose head of household’s ethnic group is “Chinese” were in the lowest-income fifth before housing costs, against 20% of everyone; 27% were in the highest (three years, April 2022 to March 2025, averaged). See how this compares after housing costs.

Evidence last reviewed 31 October 2026

Where they sit

Chinese: share in each income fifth, before housing costs, three years, April 2022 to March 2025, averaged
Survey-based evidence · Family Resources Survey, three years, April 2022 to March 2025, averaged
  • Lowest-income fifth32%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Second fifth12%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Middle fifth15%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Fourth fifth14%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Highest-income fifth27%

    Everyone: 20%

If this group had the same incomes as everyone else, each bar would be 20%. About 0.6 million people were in this group.

This is a small group in the survey, so these shares are less certain than for large groups. DWP publishes no confidence intervals for them.

Show the workings and sources
Chinese by income fifth, BHC
FifthShare of group
Lowest-income fifth31.7%
Second fifth12.4%
Middle fifth14.7%
Fourth fifth13.8%
Highest-income fifth27.4%

HBAI Table 3.1db (Ethnic group of the head of household). Row label as published: “Chinese”.

  • Survey-based: Family Resources Survey 2024/25, UK private households. DWP publishes no confidence intervals for these breakdowns; small groups have wider uncertainty.
  • From FYE 2022 HBAI links survey answers to DWP and HMRC records; earlier years are not comparable (DWP note 1).
  • Fifths rank people, not households: each fifth holds a fifth of individuals, so households in it differ in number and size.
  • Ethnic group is that of the head of household, and ethnic group and region rows are 3-year averages; their sizes are pooled and differ slightly from the latest-year total (DWP note 81).
  • Disability is self-reported limiting long-term illness or condition (DWP note 38).

How has this changed?

No long-run series for this group

DWP’s published time-series tables do not include this group. A series could be built from DWP’s Stat-Xplore service, which holds the years to 2020/21 and from 2021/22 as separate datasets.

Other groups

Income fifths: Lowest-income fifth · Second fifth · Middle fifth · Fourth fifth · Highest-income fifth

All groups · Income, low income and food

Built from official tables and checked by automated tests; it has not yet had independent analytical review. About these numbers.