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Where do people in pensioner couples sit in the income distribution?

18% of people in pensioner couples were in the lowest-income fifth before housing costs, against 20% of everyone; 17% were in the highest (April 2024 to March 2025). See how this compares after housing costs and how their low-income rate has changed since 1994/95.

Evidence last reviewed 31 October 2026

Where they sit

People in pensioner couples: share in each income fifth, before housing costs, April 2024 to March 2025
Survey-based evidence · Family Resources Survey, April 2024 to March 2025
  • Lowest-income fifth18%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Second fifth24%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Middle fifth22%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Fourth fifth19%

    Everyone: 20%

  • Highest-income fifth17%

    Everyone: 20%

If this group had the same incomes as everyone else, each bar would be 20%. About 8.6 million people were in this group.

Show the workings and sources
People in pensioner couples by income fifth, BHC
FifthShare of group
Lowest-income fifth18.1%
Second fifth24.0%
Middle fifth22.3%
Fourth fifth18.9%
Highest-income fifth16.7%

HBAI Table 3.1db (Family type). Row label as published: “Pensioner couple”.

  • 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?

Share of people in pensioner couples in relative low income, before housing costs, 1994/95 to 2024/25
Survey-based evidence · Family Resources Survey, each year since 1994/950%10%20%30%1995/962000/012005/062010/112015/162020/21Break in series

People in pensioner couples · everyone. Relative low income means a household income below 60% of the UK middle income that year.

  • Before the break, UK figures: 21.7% in 2002/03 and 15.1% in 2019/20: down 6.7 percentage points. Earlier years are for Great Britain only, so they are shown but not compared.
  • Since the break: 11.8% in 2021/22 and 13.0% in 2024/25: up 1.2 percentage points.

From 2021/22 DWP links survey answers to benefit and tax records, so the two parts of the line are not comparable and no change is worked out across the gap. Years before 2002/03 cover Great Britain only.

Missing years

  • DWP does not publish 2020/21 below headline level because of pandemic sample quality (note 70).
Show the workings and sources
Share in relative low income, BHC: People in pensioner couples and everyone
YearCoveragePeople in pensioner couplesEveryoneSeries
1994/95Great Britain19.1%18.7%Before break
1995/96Great Britain20.6%17.9%Before break
1996/97Great Britain20.3%19.4%Before break
1997/98Great Britain21.4%19.5%Before break
1998/99Great Britain23.1%19.3%Before break
1999/00Great Britain21.4%19.1%Before break
2000/01Great Britain21.3%18.4%Before break
2001/02Great Britain22.9%18.3%Before break
2002/03United Kingdom21.7%17.8%Before break
2003/04United Kingdom20.0%17.6%Before break
2004/05United Kingdom18.1%16.9%Before break
2005/06United Kingdom17.8%17.4%Before break
2006/07United Kingdom19.9%17.9%Before break
2007/08United Kingdom19.3%18.2%Before break
2008/09United Kingdom17.8%17.9%Before break
2009/10United Kingdom15.5%16.9%Before break
2010/11United Kingdom14.7%16.0%Before break
2011/12United Kingdom12.9%15.7%Before break
2012/13United Kingdom12.7%15.4%Before break
2013/14United Kingdom12.7%15.2%Before break
2014/15United Kingdom13.0%15.9%Before break
2015/16United Kingdom13.9%16.4%Before break
2016/17United Kingdom13.9%16.2%Before break
2017/18United Kingdom14.2%17.1%Before break
2018/19United Kingdom13.8%16.7%Before break
2019/20United Kingdom15.1%17.9%Before break
2020/21United Kingdomnot published15.8%Before break
2021/22United Kingdom11.8%15.4%Linked records
2022/23United Kingdom11.8%15.7%Linked records
2023/24United Kingdom11.7%15.2%Linked records
2024/25United Kingdom13.0%15.9%Linked records

HBAI time-series Table 3.10ts. Row label as published: “Pensioner couple”. Published percentages from HBAI time-series Tables 3.10ts, 3.11ts, 3.12ts and 3.17ts, before and after housing costs. No change is calculated across the 2021/22 break, and 3-year windows that include years on both sides are flagged as spanning it.

  • Survey-based: Family Resources Survey, private households. DWP publishes no confidence intervals for these group series; year-to-year movements in small groups are often sampling noise.
  • Relative low income moves with the median: if middle incomes fall, fewer people can be below 60% of it without anyone being better off.
  • Telephone-only interviewing in 2020/21 and 2021/22, and mixed mode from 2022/23, changed who responded (DWP note 5).

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.