Incomes are distributed unevenly across households in any jurisdiction because some households have a higher income than others. Relative low income (RLI) is used internationally as an indicator to track the proportion of a population whose income is below a specified threshold of 60% of the median equivalised household income. Equivalised means the data has taken into account the household size and composition. The median is the point at which half of households have a lower income and half will have a higher income. In Jersey, the data is sourced from the Household Spending and Income Survey, which is usually run every five years, with the last covering the years 2021 and 2022. This indicator focuses specifically on households with children who are in RLI households after housing costs.

In the 2021 to 2022 survey period, 15% of Jersey children lived in households below the RLI threshold before housing costs (UK 20%). Once housing costs were taken into account, about one in four Jersey children (24%) lived in RLI households (UK 29%). This percentage was lower than the previous round of the survey, which covered the 2014 to 2015 period (29%).