A total of 59,315 people were considered to be at risk of poverty, according to the results of the first Survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) conducted by the National Statistics Office in 2005.

The NSO said the figures showed that the poverty rate among men stood at 14.2 per cent and that among women at 15.5 per cent.

The scope of this survey was primarily to portray the current situation on poverty and social exclusion in Malta and Gozo.

Data from SILC is used mainly to obtain a number of numerical indicators on poverty and social exclusion, which serve as a basis to identify the population categories that are mostly prone to poverty and material deprivation.

These indicators are based on household income which, when averaged over all members of a household, provide reliable indications of the monetary well-being of the household.

SILC is also used to collect other information that is either directly or indirectly linked to this theme. This includes information related to the distribution of household income, health and disability, employment, and material deprivation.

The survey is being conducted on an annual basis in order to monitor changes in living conditions over the years. All the work is conducted under European framework regulations in order to permit comparability among all European member states.

According to the survey, the total gross household income in 2004 amounted to Lm1.2 billion. Most of this income was attributed to income from employment. Another high proportion came from old age benefits.

After deducting household transfers, along with tax and national insurance contributions, the total disposable household income was obtained. This amounted to almost Lm1 billion, with an average of Lm7,009 per household.

The highest average household disposable income was recorded among households with five or more members. A considerable difference was recorded between single person households and two-member households. In fact, the average for the latter group exceeded that for the former by 87 per cent. The differences between averages decreased as the household size increased.

The average household disposable income for households with dependent children was estimated at Lm8,143. This amount exceeds that of households without dependent children by 29 per cent. The lowest average values were obtained for one person households at Lm3,152 and single adult households with one or more dependent children at Lm4,744.

The disposable income was used in order to measure the equivalised income of every person within a household. The poverty line was established by calculating 60 per cent of the median equivalised income. Everyone whose equivalised income fell below this threshold was considered to be at risk of poverty. This amounted to 59,315 people or 14.9 per cent. The ratio between the sums of the highest and lowest 20 per cent equivalised incomes (S80:S20 ratio) was estimated at 4.1.

The at-risk of poverty rate stood at 15.5 per cent among women and 14.2 per cent among men. It also transpired that children and the elderly are the two categories at the highest risk of poverty. As an example, 21.9 per cent of children aged under the age of 16 and 16.3 per cent of persons aged 65 and over fell below the poverty line.

Analysing poverty by household type, showed that the poverty rate was highest among those living in single parent households. The rate stood at 47.9 per cent for these people. Another high rate of 34.7 per cent was observed among those living in households with two adults and three or more dependent children. The lowest poverty rate was recorded among households with three or more adults without dependent children.

An analysis of people aged 16 and over revealed that nearly half of the unemployed fell below the poverty line in contrast to 5.5 per cent of people at work. Most of the unemployed below the poverty line were male.