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Baby Boomers Better Off Than Brexit Babies, Report Says

© Flickr / Neil MoraleePoverty in Britain
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The wealth gap between old and young people is growing in Britain and those in their twenties the worst off, according to a recent study.

Research published in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health reveals the most deprived group of people are adults aged between 20 and 29 and British government policies are to blame.

The 2008 financial crash mixed with the drop in funding for education and house prices rising faster than wages led to a society becoming more deprived in Britain between 2004 and 2015.

Britain's baby boomers, those born after the Second World War, are the best off with their their mortgages paid off, their homes quadrupling in value and enjoying their well-earned pensions in their retirement years.

Meanwhile, adults in their 20s and 30s and so-called Millenials are the hardest hit by government cuts.

​READ MORE: Mind the Gap: London's Rich Get Richer, Poor Get Poorer

In an essay for The Conversation, Evangelos Kontopantelis, professor in data science and health services research at University of Manchester cites six reasons for the gap between young and old in Britain.

The 2008 recession, "the housing market has been a self-reinforcing driver of wealth inequality", machines and robots encroaching the jobs markets, university tuition fees, pensions — or lack of pensions and the cost of raising a family.

Brexit Babies

"Things are likely to get worse with Brexit… the EU is the biggest funder of social housing in Britain, and this of course will come to an end." Professor Kontopantelis predicts. "The under 30s endured most of the increase, including a worrying trend for infants aged 0-4," he says.  

"Baby boomers in their financial safety (triple locked pensions, properties that are owned outright) can afford to take a financial hit through Brexit," Professor Kontopantelis says. "They are gambling with other people's fortunes since they will be largely unaffected by a future economic crisis, unless pensions are slashed."

But it's often easier to blame millenials for being worse off — but Professor Kontopantelis believes "we should give millenials a break."

READ MORE: Destitute Nation: More Than a Million 'Weak, Dirty and Hungry' in Britain

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