Residents in one part of London have nearly five times the disposable household income of those in other parts of the UK, new figures have revealed.
Data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed Westminster and City of London had the highest gross disposable household income (GHDI) per head in 2023.
At £79,555, this was more than three times the UK average of £24,836. It was also nearly five times the £16,067 that people in Leicester had to spend or save.
GDHI is the amount of money that people have available for spending or saving after they have paid taxes and received any benefits.
The new ONS data showed the 10 local areas with the highest GDHI per head in 2023 were in London or the South East of England.
The 10 local areas with the lowest GDHI per head were all in the Midlands or the North of England.
Kensington & Chelsea and Hammersmith & Fulham, both in London, enjoyed the largest increases in total GDHI between 2022 and 2023 at 12.9 per cent.
The local areas with the smallest increases were the Isle of Anglesey (6.1 per cent) and Tower Hamlets (6.6 per cent).
There was wide variation in GDHI in London, with the £79,555 per head in Westminster and City of London more than three times the £24,410 per head in Barking & Dagenham and Havering.
But Wales had very little variation with the highest GDHI per head in Monmouthshire and Newport at £21,733, and the lowest in Neath Port Talbot at £18,827.
Total GDHI in the UK in 2023 was nearly £1.7 trillion.
Of that, 86.5 per cent was in England, 7.4 per cent was in Scotland, 3.8 per cent was in Wales and 2.3 per cent was in Northern Ireland.
When compared with the size of each country’s population, only England had a GDHI per head above the UK average.
Total GDHI in the UK increased by 9.5 per cent between 2022 and 2023. Of the countries of the UK, only England exceeded this growth rate, with 9.6 per cent.
The smallest increase between 2022 and 2023 was in Wales, where total GDHI grew by 7.9 per cent.
Four regions had GDHI per head values above the UK average. These were London, the South East, the East of England, and the South West.
London had the highest GDHI per head in 2023 where, on average, each person had £35,361 available to spend or save; the North East had the lowest at £19,977.
