Britain’s richest 10% own nearly half of all the country’s wealth, according to pre-pandemic data, even as inequality has remained stable for the 14 years leading up to March 2020.

A tenth of households held 43% between April 2018 and March 2020, data from the Office for National Statistics showed today, which revealed huge differences between income groups, ages and regions.

In contrast, the bottom half of the population held 9 percent. Wealth inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient, however, remained stable over the 14-year period, the ONS said.

The numbers are the most comprehensive set of data on the distribution of wealth, but exclude the period of the pandemic, when the total increased, separate data from the ONS showed.

The richest 1% of households hold more than £ 3.6million, compared to £ 15,400 or less for the bottom 10%.

There were striking differences in age, with the median wealth of those aged 55 below the statutory retirement age being around 25 times that of those aged 16 to 24.

The upper region was the South East, which has seen one of the fastest increases in average wealth since 2006. Its median wealth of £ 503,400 was about three times that of the North East, at £ 168,500. , the region with the lowest wealth. .

London has an average of £ 340,300, reflecting the lowest home ownership rate in the country, low participation in private pensions and declining median wealth in the last period. Still, he owns 15 percent of the wealth, possibly due to his higher real estate values.

The Gini coefficients, which measure inequalities, showed that London was the region with the most unequal distribution.