Young men in Scotland are facing similar levels of poverty as children, according to a new report by the Scottish Health Equity Research Unit (SHERU).
After housing costs, more than one in five (22%) Scottish men aged 18-44 were living in poverty in 2021-24 compared to 23% of children, an increase from 19% pre-pandemic.
The report shows the rise in poverty among young adult men in Scotland is not seen to the same extent in the rest of the United Kingdom (rUK), or among women of the same age.
Early warning
SHERU warns the trend risks worsening already high rates of drug, alcohol and suicide deaths among young men, having previously pointed to a policy blind spot in its 2025 Inequality Landscape Report, and cautions that support often arrives only at the point of crisis rather than through prevention.
“This is an early warning light. Since the pandemic, poverty among young men in Scotland has risen to near-child-poverty levels, even without counting those who are homeless or in custody,” said Dr Spencer Thompson, lead author at SHERU.
“The poverty rate among this group is now higher in Scotland than in the rest of the UK. Without preventative action, we risk compounding the harms experienced by young men facing poverty and deprivation.
“This isn’t zero sum. For example, tackling child poverty would benefit future generations of young men.
However, there is also a need to address the specific issues faced by this group, which cut across work, housing, justice, and mental health.
According to SHERU, a preventative approach to policymaking is needed, in which decisions are tied to long-term outcomes and joined up across government. They also point to the need for a stronger evidence base on the experiences of at-risk men, including those at the margins of employment, education, housing, and health systems.
Poverty line
On a before-housing-costs basis, the Scotland-rUK gap is now statistically significant (2021–24). On an after-housing-costs basis, Scottish young men’s poverty rate has overtaken rUK, and though the difference is not statistically significant for young men as a whole, it is significant in key subgroups.
The change is being driven by an increase in poverty among men aged 18-24, those out of work, and those single without children – many of whom rely on income from other adults in their household.
Since the pandemic, those other household members’ real earnings have fallen, unlike in the rest of the UK, pushing more households in Scotland below the poverty line.
Compared to the rest of the country over the same period, Scottish young men now record the highest poverty rate of any UK region, after housing costs. Before housing costs, Scotland ranks second-highest, behind Wales.
Within Scotland, young men’s poverty risks have diverged from young women’s, who did not see the same post-pandemic increase.
SHERU is an independent research unit at the University of Strathclyde, funded by the Health Foundation to provide insight, analysis, and scrutiny on the socio-economic factors driving health inequalities in Scotland.