Poverty grips the children of ethnic minorities

Three out of four British children of Pakistani and Bangladeshi descent are growing up in poverty-stricken households, according to a report published yesterday.

A study by the University of Essex found that 73 per cent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi households in Britain were living on less than 60 per cent of the UK average income, a level widely recognised as the "poverty line".

The report also found that only 35 per cent of adult Bangladeshis were employed and that the economic activity rates of Pakistani women were half those of the rest of Britain's female population.

The research underlined significant differences in the economic achievements of ethnic minority groups in Britain.

The proportion of people living below the poverty line was 25 per cent among the population as a whole, and about 33 per cent in Indian communities. This increased to 40 per cent among Caribbean families and 50 per cent of black African households.

The report, Parallel Lives? Poverty among Ethnic Minority Groups in Britain, commissioned by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPA), noted that black Africans have the highest levels of educational achievement of any ethnic minority group in Britain and yet experience unemployment rates that are three times as high as in white communities.

The unemployment rate among young Caribbean men was twice that of the sector as a whole, the report said.

Martin Barnes, director of the CPA, said the levels of poverty among children from ethnic minority groups were "staggering".