Almost one in six children in Britain are living in households in which nobody has a job, according to a new report.

The UK average for children in jobless households is 15.3 per cent, but this rises to almost a quarter in London and 18 per cent in Wales, the North East, the North West and the West Midlands.

The study, released today by the Office for National Statistics, also shows that 22 per cent of British children live in low income households.

The figures are highest in the North East, where 28 per cent of people under the age of 20 live in families with an income at least 40 per cent below the UK average of about £34,000.

Yorkshire and Humber and the North West also suffer high levels of child privation, with one quarter of all children living in low income households.

The figures come ten years after the Government pledged to eradicate child poverty by 2020.

The ONS said: “Although there are differences between regions, the data suggest that the most significant influence on children’s experiences growing up is likely to be income deprivation.”

While children growing up in affluent families would have very different experiences depending on the region, those growing up in relative hardship would face similar struggles no matter where they were from, it said.

The annual report, which collated figures from a range of national and local sources on the 15 million children in almost 7.5 million families across the UK, also looked at child health, education and family arrangements.

It found:

— More than one in ten children in London, the North East, the West Midlands and the North West are obese. The obesity rates are particularly high in urban areas like Hackney, East London, (16 per cent), Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.

— Among children aged 4 to 6, almost 10 per cent are already obese.

— Northern Ireland comes out top in education, with almost 65 per cent of students attaining five or more A* to C grades at GCSE or the equivalent. The UK average is 61 per cent but the average for England is only 46.5 per cent.

— Northern Ireland also has the greatest proportion of children (67 per cent) living with parents who are married or in a civil partnership. In the North East of England, this figure drops to 54 per cent.

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