Nearly one million people in Scotland are living in poverty as a new report warns the country is on course to miss its legally binding child poverty target.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) estimates that 940,000 people – around 17% of Scotland’s population – were living in relative poverty after housing costs in the latest three-year period from 2022 to 2025.
Around 11% of people were in deep poverty and 7% were in very deep poverty, meaning roughly two in every five people experiencing poverty are living far below the poverty line.
The annual Poverty in Scotland 2026 report also found that 21% of children are living in relative poverty.
That remains more than double the Scottish Government’s statutory target of reducing the figure to below 10% by 2030/31.
The targets were introduced through the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 and also require absolute poverty, persistent poverty and combined low income and material deprivation among children to fall below specified levels by 2030.
JRF said the relative child poverty target is now “set to be missed by a wide margin” without significantly stronger action.
The organisation uses three-year averages to assess the underlying trend because annual figures can fluctuate substantially.
On that measure, relative child poverty stands at 21%, compared with the final target of 10%.
A single-year estimate used by the Scottish Government put relative child poverty at 16% in 2023/24, although the figure was 27% the previous year and 21% the following year.
JRF argues the volatility demonstrates why the longer-term averages provide a more reliable picture of progress.
More than nine in ten children living in poverty belong to at least one of the six types of family identified by the Scottish Government as being at particularly high risk.
The report found poverty rates were highest among children in minority ethnic families, at 47%.
Around 39% of children in families with a baby were in poverty, while the rate among larger families was 38%.
Households containing someone with a disability accounted for almost half of all children in poverty.
Despite the headline figures, Scotland continues to have a lower child poverty rate than the UK as a whole, with JRF estimating the Scottish figure is around six percentage points lower.
The overall poverty rate in Scotland has also fallen slightly, from 18% in the previous three-year period to 17%.
JRF warned that the depth of poverty remains a major concern.
People in poverty had incomes averaging 26% below the poverty line, while those classified as being in very deep poverty were an average of 60% below it.
Chris Birt, JRF associate director for Scotland, warned that Scotland was “on course to miss the legally binding targets by miles”.
He said action was particularly required around housing, employment and social security, while local government reform should focus on improving services for families rather than simply reducing spending.
The report also calls for councils to have a much greater role in preventing poverty, arguing that local authorities control important services including housing, childcare, education and local economic development.
It says councils need more sustainable funding from the Scottish Government to allow anti-poverty programmes to be planned over several years rather than relying heavily on short-term funding settlements.
The Scottish Government published its latest Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan in March, covering the period from 2026 to 2031.
Its measures include the Scottish Child Payment and policies covering childcare, employment, housing and social security.
Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said the government is committing around £3.5 billion this year to policies aimed at tackling poverty and the cost of living.