Distribution of gross weekly household income, 1999-2002
Forty-three per cent of households in London had a gross weekly income of over £600 in 1999-2002, compared with 30 per cent of households in the UK as a whole. The average gross weekly household income for London, at £711 in 1999-2002, was £186 higher than the average for the UK.
In Inner London in 2001/02, 23 per cent of households received Income Support or Working Families' Tax credit compared with 13 per cent in Outer London. This pattern is broadly similar for Council Tax Benefit with 28 per cent of households in Inner London in receipt compared with 15 per cent of those in Outer London.
Weekly average household expenditure per person in London was £199 in 2001/02, compared with the UK average of £168. As a proportion of their income, Londoners spend more on housing and less on transport than the national average.
London had the highest proportion, 48 per cent, of households with access to the Internet out of all regions in the UK in 2001/02, and over half of all London households were in possession of at least one mobile phone in the period 1999-2002.
Smoking has fallen among men. Over the period 1998/99 to 2001/02 the proportion of male smokers over the age of 16 in London fell from 34 per cent to 29 per cent, a larger decrease than in Great Britain as a whole. There was little change in the proportion of female smokers in both London and Great Britain.
Londoners drink less than the GB average. Twenty three per cent of men in London drank 22 or more units of alcohol per week in 2001/02, compared with 27 per cent in Great Britain as a whole. Twelve per cent of women drank 15 or more units a week compared with 15 per cent in Great Britain.
Drug use is higher. Thirty one per cent of 16 to 29 year-olds in London in 2000 said they had taken some type of drug in the previous 12 months compared with 25 per cent across England and Wales as a whole.
Sources: Expenditure and Food Survey, Family Resources Survey, General Household Survey, Office for National Statistics; British Crime Survey, Home Office.
Notes: Excluding Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit (rates rebates in Northern Ireland). Combined data from the 1999/2000, 2000/01 and 2001/02 surveys.
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