Poverty rate falls in Inner London

More evidence of London's great inversion, this time courtesy of the LSE. Ruth Lupton of the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion analysed census data from 2001 - 2011 and found that poverty rates in inner London fell substantially during this period, while outer boroughs experienced a significant increase in poverty rates.

London's poor are being pushed to the city's outskirts, while inner London boroughs like Lewisham have attracted people with higher incomes. But it's important to note that - so far - this trend has not resulted in greater geographical inequality - it has instead evened out the historic imbalances in poverty distribution. Lupton writes:

Mapping the proportion of households receiving Income Support and three other types of means-tested benefit shows that the greatest concentrations of poverty in 2001 were found in Inner East London. However, poverty rates, on this measure, fell considerably in the poorest inner-city neighbourhoods up to 2008, while increasing in less poor Outer London areas. This was mainly due to new house building and an influx of households that were less poor into Inner London, especially the Inner West.

With thanks to Monkeyboy.