As a sector, it is the elderly, as well as children, who are most at risk of poverty in Malta. On the other hand, adults in Malta are less at risk of poverty than their counterparts elsewhere in Europe.

Eurostat yesterday published an update to a series of statistics it had already published in March.

Malta’s at risk of poverty was estimated at 23.1% of the population, less than the euro area’s 23.3% and the EU-28 figure of 24.8%.

Children from 0 to 17 years of age at risk of poverty in Malta are estimated at 31%, higher than the euro area average of 28% and the EU-28 area average of 25.6%.

The elderly in Malta (65 years and over) most at risk of poverty are estimated at 22.3%, higher than the euro area’s 17.5% and the EU-28 average of 19.3%.

But only 21.1% of Malta’s adult population (from 18 to 64 years) claims to be at risk of poverty compared to 24.3% in the euro area and 25.3% in the EU-28.

In 2012, 124.2 million people, or 24.8 % of the population, in the EU-28 were at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE), compared with 24.3 % in 2011. The AROPE indicator is defined as the share of the population in at least one of the following three conditions:

§  1) at risk of poverty, meaning below the poverty threshold,

§  2) in a situation of severe material deprivation,

§  3) living in a household with very low work intensity.

The reduction of the number of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU is one of the key targets of the Europe 2020 strategy.

The AROPE figure for the EU-28 average, calculated as a weighted average of national results, masks considerable variation between Member States.

 At one extreme, the Member States with the highest AROPE rates in 2012 were Bulgaria (49.3 %), Romania (41.7 %), Latvia (36.2 %), Greece (34.6 %), Lithuania, Hungary and Croatia (all three around 32.0 %).

 At the other extreme, the share of the population at risk of poverty or social exclusion was the lowest in the Netherlands (15.0 %), the Czech Republic (15.4 %) and Sweden (15.6 %).

Overall the AROPE rate has slightly increased at EU-28 level between 2011 and 2012 (0.5 percentage points (pp)). The risk of poverty or social exclusion rose by 3.6 pp in Greece and 2.5 pp in Cyprus, decreasing by more than 3 pp only in Latvia (-3.9 pp)

With a rate of 28.0 % in EU-28, children were at greater risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2012 than the rest of the population in 17 of the 27 Member States for which data are available.

The largest gaps (difference between the AROPE rates for the specific age groups) between children and the total population were observed in Romania, Hungary and Malta: in these countries the AROPE rate for children was more than 7 pp higher than the rate for the total population.

The situation was relatively better for children than adults in Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Greece, Slovenia and Finland. The situation of children compared to adults was also better in Norway.

The percentage of children living in a household at risk of poverty or social exclusion ranged from 14.9% in Finland, 15.3% in Denmark and 15.4% in Sweden to more than 35.0% in Greece, Latvia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria.

 The main factors affecting child poverty are the labour market situation of the parents, which is linked to their level of education, the composition of the household in which the children live and the effectiveness of government intervention through income support and the provision of enabling services. There are also more vulnerable groups of children, such as those with migrant parents that deserve particular attention.

The elderly faced a lower risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2012 than the overall population both at EU-28 level (19.3% as opposed to 24.8%) and in 20 out of the 27 Member States with available data (no data available for IE year 2012). The risk of poverty or social exclusion faced by people aged 65 or more in 2012 ranged from 6.1% in Luxembourg to 59.1% in Bulgaria.

These differences in the relative situation of the elderly depend on a number of factors including the features of the pension systems for current pensioners and the age and gender structure of the elderly population, since elderly women and the very old tend to face much higher risks in some countries.

Material deprivation rates complement the social exclusion picture by providing an estimate of the proportion of people whose living conditions are severely affected by a lack of resources. The severe material deprivation rate represents the proportion of people who cannot afford at least four of the nine following items: 1) (arrears on) mortgage or rent payments, utility bills, hire purchase instalments or other loan payments; 2) one week’s annual holiday away from home; 3) a meal with meat, chicken, fish (or vegetarian equivalent) every second day; 4) unexpected financial expenses; 5) a telephone (including mobile phone); 6) a colour TV; 7) a washing machine; 8) a car and 9) heating to keep the home adequately warm.

In the EU-28, 9.9%  of the population were severely materially deprived. The share of those severely materially deprived varied significantly among Member States. On the one hand, only 1.3% of the population were severely deprived in Luxembourg and Sweden, 2.3% in the Netherlands and 2.8% in Denmark. On the other hand, the deprivation rate exceeded 40.0% in Bulgaria, and 25.0% in Hungary, Latvia and Romania.

While overall at EU level, severe material deprivation increased by 1 pp between 2011 and 2012, it had a sharper increase in Greece (4.3 pp), Cyprus, Italy (both 3.3 pp) and the United Kingdom (2.7 pp). On the other hand, the severe material deprivation rate has decreased significantly in Latvia (-5.4 pp).

Among material deprivation items, facing unexpected expenses showed the greatest variation in 2012 at EU-28 level compared with 2011. This item measures the ability of a household to cover from their own resources an unexpected expense amounting to a fraction (1/12) of the poverty threshold. The amount varies between countries from about €105.8 in Romania to about €1,639 in Luxembourg.

In 2012, 40.2% of the EU-28 population reported difficulties in facing such unexpected expenses. This represents an increase of 2.1 pp compared with 2011.

There is considerable variation among Member States. The percentage of people reporting such difficulties ranges from 25.0% or less in Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands and Sweden to more than 60.0% in Bulgaria, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania and Hungary.

Compared with 2011, the percentage of people reporting difficulties in facing unexpected expenses increased by more than 5 pp in Portugal (6.8 pp), the United Kingdom (6.2 pp) and Greece (6.1 pp). At the same time it decreased by more than 2 pp in Latvia (-6.8 pp), Cyprus (-2.4 pp) and Malta (-2.2 pp).