Just under 15 per cent of the population, representing 57,380 persons, fell below the 'at risk of poverty' line in 2000, according to a survey by the National Statistics Office.
It was found that the highest poverty rate, estimated at 79.1 per cent, was for persons living in households where social benefits (excluding pensions) were the main source of income. For households where no one was working, the poverty rate stood at 39.6 per cent. For households where pensions were the main source of income the poverty rate stood at 25.3 per cent.
The 'at risk of poverty line' is calculated by the ratio of a household's regular income to its consumption, called the national equivalised income.
The 'at risk of poverty' line is internationally defined as 60 per cent of the NEI median. All the persons whose NEI fell under this level were classified as persons at-risk-of-poverty for this exercise.
The NEI median was estimated at Lm3,394, giving a resulting poverty line estimated at Lm2,036.
In addition to these, 3.1 per cent of the population were below 40 per cent of the NEI median (Lm1,357), whilst 7.7 per cent were below 50 per cent of the NEI median (Lm1,697).
Moreover, it resulted that the NEI for 88,420 persons, or 22.9 per cent of the population, fell under 70 per cent of the median.
The poorest one-fifth of the population fell below a NEI level equal to Lm2,261.
It was found that the richest one-fifth of the population earned 4.5 times more than the poorest one-fifth.
Over half those at risk were females, and when categorised by age, over a third were aged between 0 and 19 years.
In fact, 35.7 per cent of individuals below the at-risk-of-poverty line were aged between 0 and 19 years, 20.6 per cent were between 20 and 39 years old, 23.8 per cent were between 40 and 59 years old, and the remaining 19.9 per cent were aged 60 years or above.
The poverty rate was found to decrease with an increasing education level. In fact, the poverty rate stood at 24.4 per cent for those with no formal schooling, 17.5 per cent for persons who completed only primary level, 11.4 per cent for persons who completed secondary level, 3.9 per cent for individuals who had completed post-secondary education, and 1.6 per cent for persons who had completed tertiary education.
A close relationship between district and risk was found. The rate varied between 20.7 per cent in the Southern Harbour district (Valletta, Vittoriosa, Senglea, Cospicua, Zabbar, Fgura, Floriana, Kalkara, Luqa, Marsa, Paola, Sta Lucija, Tarxien, Xghajra) and 8.7 per cent in the Western district.
The at-risk-of-poverty rate in the other districts stood at 15.2 per cent in the Northern Harbour district, 15.9 per cent in the South Eastern district, 10.2 per cent in the Northern district, and 13.5 per cent in Gozo and Comino.
There was a marked difference in the poverty rates for persons residing in owned dwellings when compared with those living in rented dwellings. The poverty rate for individuals who lived in owned dwellings without an outstanding loan stood at 10.8 per cent and 11.3 per cent for persons who lived in dwellings with an outstanding loan.
On the other hand the highest rate was found in respect of those who lived in rented dwellings. In fact this rate stood at 35.6 per cent for those who lived in rented, furnished dwellings and 28.8 per cent for those living in rented, unfurnished dwellings.
The lowest at-risk-of-poverty rate, estimated at 4.5 per cent, was found in households with no dependent children. The following rates were also estimated: 55 per cent for single parent households with at least one dependent child, 18.5 per cent for households with two adults and dependent children and 8.3 per cent for other households with dependent children. In the case of individuals living in single parent households the at-risk-of-poverty rate varied between 52.5 per cent for males and 58.2 per cent for females.