A Citizen Prosperity Index for east London

This report launches the Institute for Global Prosperity’s Citizen Prosperity Index for east London: a new way of conceptualising and measuring prosperity based on long-term research about the determinants of prosperity foocal communities.

The Citizen Prosperity Index is a new way of measuring prosperity that reports on what matters to local communities in east London. Unlike most indicators and metrics that are decided by experts in government, universities or business, and assumed to be relevant to communities everywhere, the Citizen Prosperity Index is based on long-term qualitative research about lived experiences and local determinants of prosperity in east London.

Citizen scientists worked with academic researchers to analyse and categorise the factors that people identified as essential and important for a prosperous life in east London, which were translated into the ‘prosperity model’ that underpins the Citizen Prosperity Index. 

The Citizen Prosperity Index is a key output from the Prosperity in east London 2021–2031 Longitudinal Study, which aims to address the gaps in academic theory and policy-relevant knowledge about how investments in urban regeneration can create equitable pathways to place-based prosperity. 

Index data shows deep-rooted challenges of livelihood insecurity that do not map straightforwardly onto employment status and income. Housing affordability is an acute and persistent problem in all areas and for all demographics. Levels of financial stress, food and energy insecurity, and debt burdens vary significantly within communities that report similar levels of income. While the cost-of-living crisis might explain some of these stresses, we argue livelihood insecurity is becoming entrenched in east London.

Moreover, analysis of prosperity levels by gender, age, and for different ethnic groups show intricate, place-specific patterns of opportunity and inequality. Overall, we can see women report lower levels of prosperity than men. People from non-white backgrounds report lower levels of prosperity than people from white backgrounds. Older people are less prosperous than younger people.

Read the report