57,440 found to be at risk of poverty

Claire Busuttil

Nov 22nd 2009, 00:35

Prosit lil gvern!!! Veru gharukasa!!

J Oatmon

Nov 21st 2009, 06:59

In every country of the world young families struggle to survive financially - this is the usual way of life, and no one gets a free ride, except the immigrants.
You battle through life spending all you have to survive, but a lot of those 'in poverty' can be seen drinking in the bars on a regular basis or gambling (spending whatever they wish), and they still complain their kids have no decent clothes, or their pay is too low etc.

MSciberras

Nov 20th 2009, 21:31

@Joe Vella
A family of 4 with small kids living on one minimum wage does not have the right to expect to afford a mortgage. Why did they have the kids in the first place if they could not afford them? Why should my taxes support irresponsiblity?

N. Lawrence

Nov 20th 2009, 21:19

We have the highest car ownership per head ( in Europe) and over 90% mobile 'phone penetration. The numbers just don't add up.

M. Mifsud

Nov 20th 2009, 20:47

@ Joe Vella. As I am sure you know, it all depends on the capital in hand, the sum that one needs to borrow and the financial / work status of that time. Most couples hold a job each before having kids. There are also single persons who get a loan to buy a property way before they even start to think about having a family. Does that satisfy your sarcastic question?

lgalea

Nov 20th 2009, 20:21

MSciberras I think that the figure must be grossly understated not overstated. Ask those who are in touch with those who are in need and cannot make ends meet Also this is a 2007 figure which without any shadow of doubt has greatly increased considering the number of workers discharged, those working on reduced hours, those working only part-time and those whose work has been taken by foreigners and illegal immigrats, the increase in the cost of living etc. M. Mifsud You forgot to add the bolla balla atomika. Those who are saying that there are people cheating report them. Apart from that, although there may be a few who will not work, these are a minority and certainly do not reflect the massive figure.

R.Gauci

Nov 20th 2009, 19:20

I don't know on which basis this statistic was issued so I can't say how much reliable it is or not but I can say that yes there are people in difficulty in Malta and that are finding it hard to make it till the end of the month and not all of them are leaches living on social or unemployment benefits!! I can speak about myself I don't have a car,don't smoke,don't drink alchohol everyday just sometimes on special occasions, just a small loan to pay of about 110 euros a month for five years and a monthly rent of 230 euros a month so half of my salary is out as M.Mifsud said . I have two kids to feed and raise up !! Yes there are people which are in difficulty because of their fault for having a lot of luxuries but there are genuine cases and you can't generalise and say that who is in this situation is because s/he is lazy !!! Yes the goverment has to look in this issue and start to means test social benefit so from the money which is saved from abuses, more real genuine cases will be helped!!

andreana attard

Nov 20th 2009, 18:27

"People who had equivalised ....." What does equivalise mean? I can't find it in the dictionary.

Joe Vella

Nov 20th 2009, 18:23

@ M. Mifsud A family with small kids, at least a family of four, living on one minimum wage was able to qualify for a mortgage?

victor pulis

Nov 20th 2009, 18:02

poverty comes in many forms not just economic. if, for example a survey was to be taken on cultural poverty I bet that number would treble and there would be some surprises in the list!.

MSciberras

Nov 20th 2009, 17:54

For what its worth may I urge a journalist to go into detail into this survey, as with so many others produced and quoted, including its assumptions and source data.............There is interesting news material in these studies, but only if they are evaluated in depth and challenged. Without jumping to conclusions, my gut feeling is that underresourced gov statisticians have relied too heavily on declared incomes and that this figure of near 60,000 is overstated by at least 25%. This is because the average official wage in Malta still remains unrealistically low and the biggest reason for this is undeclared income by small traders who for political and economic reasons the gov still does not pursue hard enough. The care with which statistics in Malta must be interpreted is exemplified by the various surveys that businesses are legally obliged to fill in the course of the year. How often are the (low) penalties for non-submission actually enforced? (never?) With what care are the ones actually submitted compiled? How does the under-resourced NSO monitor all this? The result is a lot of extrapolation of data from whatever hard data is available – far too much to be reliable.

smifsud

Nov 20th 2009, 16:21

well this news is not surprising at all and that number will grow even higher ....and who is complaining about that COLA raise now? ...its very SIMPLE FOLKS (to the Employers) if th
e CONSUMER DON'T HAVE MONEY you will go out of business aswell !!....

M. Mifsud

Nov 20th 2009, 16:05

@ All those that don't believe these statistics: What would you call a family with young kids, trying to survive on one minimum wage, a house loan that eats up half of that before it's in your hands, and water, electricity and phone bills that eat up the rest? Whoever barely gets past mid-month and then has to rely on the charity of other family members to feed the kids cannot be exactly called rich, can they?

George Attard

Nov 20th 2009, 15:25

If one out of every seven in all of Malta and Gozo are at risk of poverty, imagine what it's like in the northern and southern harbour area, when in Gozo on its own it's one out of every 4 persons. After 20 years plus of the same PN government, it's very difficult to put the blame on anybody else but you know who. And even if the majority of these people are, for argument's sake, scroungers bleeding the social services dry, this would surely not reflect at all well on the government entities (social services department, police, ETC etc) in their efforts at enforcing the country's laws..

J Demicoli

Nov 20th 2009, 15:05

If I am not mistaken the number of people registering for work is in the region of 7000. So to all those who are jumping to conclusions and pointing fingers; Please note that even if all of these were to be the leaches that you claim them to be, it would still be just a drop in the ocean taking the figure quoted by the prominent minister.

To me there is no other way how to describe this situation but, SHAME on who brought this state of affairs. This surely is not the vision of a developed country neither does it show the heart and soul of Social Europe.

It is more the reflection of the rule of the jungle were only the fittest will survive!!!

E Gatt

Nov 20th 2009, 14:53

It is always sad to read such figures. However even in the 'rich club' of the EU, Malta's poverty level is below average in the latest published report (2007) by Eurostat.

Here is the link http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-09-046/EN/KS-SF-09-046-EN.PDF

James Dimech

Nov 20th 2009, 14:42

How many of these are at risk of poverty because they have no intitiative, refuse to work or else refuse to wake up in the morning and take up the challenges of life like these rest of us do ?

Charles Miceli

Nov 20th 2009, 14:40

Obviously there are those who register for work, drink champagne and drive a limousine. But there are also people who are poor, really poor. By pointing fingers at the authorities or at those who abuse the system, we may get a political high and quiten our minds. But the question is: what AM I going to do? Do I know someone who needs help?

I feel it is important to point out that there are various other types of poverty besides income poverty, for example relative poverty, spiritual poverty, mental poverty, cultural poverty, etc.

While one cannot start a discussion about poverty without talking introducing the subject of wealth and its distribution, my emphasis still remain on individual (and possibly organized) action in the here and now.

Wayne Criggs

Nov 20th 2009, 14:24

@ GMICALLEF
@Mark Galea
@Joseph Mallia
@joe cassar

If you know people who are cheating please report them immediately, because then you would be the main reason why these things still exist on this island. If not, stop doing false accusations without having proof. If you really believe that there are so many ppl declaring false and you want that these things stop, then ask that the authorities to face this problem with harsher measures...

Christian Sciberras

Nov 20th 2009, 14:16

@GMICALLEF - If you talk of yourself, suits me.

@Mark Galea - So you're saying anyone who works legally is poor? Wait a second, let me check my tax records...

@joe cassar - Yes, but people get easily impressed by statistics.

That reminds me, why did a 2 year-old survey pop up right now?

Stephen Deguara

Nov 20th 2009, 14:08

We Should Be Ashamed.

Chrissey Zammit

Nov 20th 2009, 14:05

THIS !!! is a worrying situation. WHAT are the goverment going to do about it ??? One would presume NOTHING. This survey was taken in 2007, I am sure if they took the same survey now, the numbers would be a lot higher. With electricity,gas, and petrol prices which have all increased considerable since 2007. From the comments posted YES I am sure everyone knows someone who is working BUT also registering for work. THEN it is upto the public to report this abuse.

joe cassar

Nov 20th 2009, 13:55

Before declaring their income and doing statistics the Maltese should also declare their properties, cars, buildings, summer residences etc.. There are around thousands of self employed who ownes luxary cars and declare only the minimum wage. these statistics are a big joke and false.

Joseph Mallia

Nov 20th 2009, 13:55

A couple living in a government flat ( purchased I presume) with a satellite dish on the roof, three cars (one expensive) unemplyed for the last three years and so on. Is this couple considered in line of poverty. Such people are surely working and not declaring their income, and we taxpayers pay for their dole!! Something has to be done.

Mark Galea

Nov 20th 2009, 13:43

I would change the title to:
57,440 declare income below the at-risk-of-poverty treshold.

There are definitely many people that are REALLY at the threshold of poverty, and we SHOULD HELP them. The rest should be fined for undeclaring income.

GMICALLEF

Nov 20th 2009, 13:42

well said Joseph Vella.. some of these ppl are better off than most..the rest are downright lazy!

Jessica Vella

Nov 20th 2009, 13:37

The most thing that is worrying me is: That this study was done in 2007. What is the situation now in 2009 when electricity, medicine, car licence etc etc went up...... So I think that there are more.....

Wayne Criggs

Nov 20th 2009, 13:24

The strength of a government is shown not only for the peaks it reaches but for the lows it manages to avoid. Bad homework done on taking care of the weakest, I must say.

michael svicluna

Nov 20th 2009, 13:02

so what would gonzipn's target for his so called "vizjoni 2015"?? somewhere around 100,000??

Wayne Criggs

Nov 20th 2009, 12:40

Poor Malta...

Christian Sciberras

Nov 20th 2009, 12:40

That's a bit....worrying.

Joseph Vella

Nov 20th 2009, 12:39

Is this a joke! Does this mean that 1 person in every 7 in Malta is poor. I personally know of at least a dozen persons who are registering for work ( at least over a year) but still work as labourers, maids etc without declaring obviously this income. Are any kinds of means test carried on these persons - example do they have a mobile phone, car registered in their name, how many tv's at home, do they travel out of Malta.