The areas of Bristol with the highest rates of child poverty have been revealed

More than half of children in some parts of Bristol live in poverty. The latest official government figures reveal that in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire almost 30,000 children aged 0-15 were living below the cap in 2022/23, even before housing costs.

The number has been growing and has risen from around 24,500 in 2014/15. The proportion of children affected varies from 12% in South Gloucestershire and 14% in North Somerset to 22% of children in Bristol.

However, at the hyperlocal level, the child poverty rate is even higher in some neighborhoods. Almost 55% of all children aged 0-15 living in Barton Hill in East Bristol grow up in poverty.

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This is nearly 28 times the lowest rate area in the city; only two per cent of children in Westbury-on-Trym in Bristol live below the bread line.

Top 10 Bristol boroughs with the highest rates of child poverty

Neighborhood – Child poverty rate

Barton Hill – 55%

Upper Easton – 54%

Temple Meads – 42%

St Paul’s – 36%

Hartcliffe – 34%

Knowledge – 34%

Bristol City Center – 34%

Withywood – 33%

Knowle West – 33%

Highridge – 32%

Weston Bournville has the highest rate of child poverty in North Somerset at 34%, while Yate West has the highest rate in South Gloucestershire at 21%.

Top 10 North Somerset boroughs with the highest rates of child poverty

Neighborhood – Child poverty rate

Weston Bournville – 34%

Weston Uphill – 27%

Weston Hillside – 26%

Mid Worle – 26%

Weston Town – 20%

South Worle, West Wick and St Georges – 16%

Weston Winterstoke – 15%

Weston Clarence – 15%

Hutton, Locking and Banwell – 14%

North Worle – 14%

Top 10 boroughs in South Gloucestershire with the highest rates of child poverty

Neighborhood – Child poverty rate

Yate West – 21%

Kingswood North East – 20%

Yate Kingsgate – 18%

Staple Hill South and Kingswood North West – 17%

Kingswood South – 17%

Cadbury Heath South & North Common – 16%

Filton – 15%

Patchway – 15%

Stoke Gifford West and Little Stoke – 14%

Nationally, 2.5 million children aged 0-15 in the UK were living in poverty in 2022/23, more than 20% of all children – up from 1.9 million in 2014/15 (16% ). Over 88% of all children living in Govanhill West, a borough of Glasgow, grow up in poverty.

Govanhill as a whole has long been recognized as one of Scotland’s most deprived communities, with nearly 1,150 of the 1,300 children in this particular borough living below the cut-off.

Alison Garnham, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group and vice-chair of the End Child Poverty Coalition, said: “In a general election year, nothing should be more important to our political leaders than making things better for the poorest children of the country.

“But child poverty has reached an all-time high, with millions of children now facing cold homes and empty bellies. We know change is possible, but we need to see a commitment from all parties to remove the two-child limit and increase child benefits.

“Anything less would be a betrayal of Britain’s children.”