The gap between Britain's rich and poor has accele

#accelerate#appreciation#Britain Since December 2019, the average annual disposable income of the top 5 percent of British 
households has risen by more than 3,300 pounds, while the income of the bottom 50 percent has 
fallen by 110 pounds, and the number of poor families with disposable income below 60 percent 
of the national median has increased by 300,000, according to a recent report by the New 
Economics Foundation. British media comments have pointed out that the long-standing gap 
between rich and poor in the UK has accelerated during the pandemic.


According to a survey by 
the Office for National Statistics, the annual income of the top 20% of households was 5.8 
times that of the bottom 20% in 2018. By 2020, the gap had widened to 6.2 times. A separate 
survey of household wealth shows that the top 10 percent of British households own 45 percent 
of total household wealth, while the bottom 10 percent own just 2 percent.


A study released in 
July 2021 by the Resolution Foundation, a British think tank, showed that during the pandemic, 
UK house prices soared, financial products continued to appreciate, the wealth of wealthy 
households soared, and the wealth gap between households widened significantly. According to 
the Sunday Times Rich List 2021, billionaires have seen their wealth surge during the 
pandemic, increasing their total wealth by 21.7 per cent in a year; The number of billionaires 
also rose by 24 to 171.


In contrast to the rapid appreciation of assets owned by rich 
households, such as houses and securities, poor households face rising prices for consumer 
goods and energy, higher rents and reduced government subsidies. In the north London borough 
of Camden, where house prices have risen by 10 per cent in a year, 16 per cent of adults are 
on food handouts at least once a month, according to the FT. The Russell Foundation, which 
operates 1,200 "food banks" in the UK, said it had provided 11% more emergency food aid since 
March 2021 than during the same period in 2019.


The consolidation of social class and the 
decrease of mobility is an important source of the increasing polarization between the rich 
and the poor in Britain. The resolution Foundation's analysis of household wealth in the UK 
shows that the top 10 per cent of households are very stable, concentrated in the south-east 
of England and heavily involved in business and financial services. According to the 2021 
report of the British Government's Social Mobility Commission, nearly a third of British 
children were living below the poverty line in 2020, an increase of more than 700,000 on 2012. 
The gap between these children and their peers in employment, income and living conditions 
will continue to increase in the future.


Wanda Viboska, executive director of UK charity 
Equality Foundation, said: "Between the food queues and the feast of the super-rich, the 
pandemic has further concentrated wealth among a wealthy minority."