Household Wealth By Region And Age

The age group in which wealth is the highest is the 45-64 year old group. Wealth remains relatively high in the 65+ age group but the age group with the lowest wealth is the group 25-44 year olds in which there are children and young adults.

The impact of region on household wealth is least is the 25-44 age group with larger regional differences in the 45-64 and 65+ age groups. A higher share of wealthy individuals live in the South East than in any other region. The North East region has relatively less wealthy households than other regions. It is particularly so for those aged over 65 and more people over 65 live in households with total wealth below £50,000 than those with total wealth over £500,000. In London 22% of 45-64 year olds live in households with wealth over £1m and 18% with less than £50,000.

The sources of wealth most likely to make the difference in wealth distribution are pension wealth and property wealth. The regional variation is greater for property wealth. People over 65 with net property wealth of over £250,000 are distributed regionally and total 41% for London, 38% in the South East, 32-33% in the East of England and the South West and 10-15% in the North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber and Scotland and Wales. The share of individuals living with a negative net financial wealth varies from 21% in Scotland to 35% in the North East.

Wealth Distribution In Great Britain

The 'Wealth of Great Britain' report published by the ONS tells us that the net wealth of private households totalled £9 trillion in 2006-8. It also tells us that it is not distributed very evenly. The wealthiest 20% of households accounted for 62% of the total wealth while the least wealthy 10% had negative total net wealth.

The median household net wealth was £204,500 which means that 50% have more and 50% have less than that figure. The Wealth and Assets survey also tells us that 39% of the total of private net wealth is in property and private pensions and 11% is in things like cars and antiques.

Wealth also varied according to location. The South East of England was the wealthiest area with a median wealth of £287,900 and the lowest median was in Scotland with £150,600.

Some people have never saved. A total of 35% of people reported that they had never saved with 21% saying they were likely to save in future. Many people do save and 50% reported that they had saved in the 12 months preceding the survey and 37% saying they had saved in the preceding month.

The majority of people, a total of 83%, expect a state pension and 59% expect an occupational or private pension. The survey also reported that 40% of men and 32% of women were contributing to a private pension.