NI one of UK's poorest regions

Social security benefits make up 17% of NI's income

Northern Ireland is one of the poorest regions in the United Kingdom, according to statistics.

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics show that household incomes per head are between 15% and 20% lower than the UK average.

More people in the province - 17% of the population - are on social security benefits, excluding pensions, compared to a UK average of 8% of the population.

Jim McCracken of the Low Pay Unit has called on local ministers to adopt an effective strategy to deal with the issue.

"Northern Ireland's problems are specific to Northern Ireland and there's a regional focus there that needs to be developed.

"And the people who can develop it are the assembly or the executive. They would need to be addressing it urgently."

As is to be expected, the survey reveals that Londoners and those living in the south east are considerably better off than people in the rest of the UK.

'Upward trend'

The figures also reveal that household incomes in Northern Ireland along with Scotland, Wales and the north-east fell by more than 2%, when compared to the national average, between 1996 and 1998.

Only London and the south east have shown an underlying upward trend in disposable income between 1990 and 1998.

Statistics also show that the proportion of household income derived from pensions was 15% to 16% in the south west and Wales, where there are a relatively large number of retired people.

However, in Northern Ireland and London, which have relatively young populations, it was just 9%.

London accounted for 14.9% of the UK's total disposable household income, with the south east accounting for 15.4% and the east 9.9%.