Interactive: Poor pupils’ GCSE performance

Poor children are more likely to do badly in GCSE exams if they live outside London, a Financial Times analysis of more than 3m sets of exam results from the 2009 National Pupil Database reveals.

In London, 28% of poor pupils recieve GCSE results in the bottom fifth nationally. Outside the capital, that figure rises to 42%.

As a consequence, the performance of white working-class children, who are more likely to live outside London, suffers the most.

This interacteractive graphic, based on the FT analysis, shows the probability that a 16-year-old eligible for free school meals in each local authority area in England will receive exam results in the bottom 20% nationally.