Northern Ireland has the highest levels of child poverty in the UK.
While child poverty levels in Northern Ireland as a whole are on par with the wider UK, the proportion of children living in low-income families remains high in parts of the region. Eight of its 18 parliamentary constituencies rank in the bottom third of the wider UK, according to recently published government figures. At least one in five children living in those areas were in relative poverty in 2019, rising to more than a quarter (26%) in Belfast West – home to the Lanark Way and Springfield Road interface where some of the recent violence broke out – as well as the Belfast North and Foyle constituencies. [...] The chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, Les Allamby, said child poverty was a severe problem in Northern Ireland, where families are bigger on average, meaning the limit on universal credit to two children is acutely felt.