The risk of poverty in Malta is increasing, according to a Eurostat study released in Brussels yesterday.

The study, Income And Living Conditions In The EU, shows there were 59,000 people considered to be living at risk of poverty in 2008, the latest available data – equivalent to almost one in every seven Maltese.

While in 2008, those considered to be at risk of poverty amounted to 14.7 per cent of the population, in 2005 this category of people stood at 14.1 per cent – or about 2,000 fewer people.

According to the EU statisticians, being poor does not necessarily mean having people begging on the street, something conspicuous by its absence in Malta.

Persons at risk of poverty are defined as those living in a household with a disposable income that falls below the risk-of-poverty threshold, which is set at 60 per cent of the national median disposable income, including social benefits. For Malta, this was calculated to be €7,800 per household in 2008.

The EU statistics also show that among the poor, a total of 16,000 in 2008 were considered to be the worst off and defined as “severely materially deprived persons”.

This means these people were experiencing living conditions in which they could not afford at least four of the following nine “deprivation items to pay rent/mortgage or utility bills; to keep the home adequately warm; to face unexpected expenses; to eat meat, fish or a protein equivalent every second day; a one-week holiday away from home; a car; a washing machine; a colour television; or a telephone.

Although these statistics may sound alarm bells, Malta still fares better than the EU average, which stood at 17 per cent, more than two per cent above Malta’s average.

Eurostat said there were 81 million people at risk of poverty in the 27-nation bloc in 2008.

Latvia (26 per cent), Romania (23 per cent) and Bulgaria (21 per cent) had the highest at-risk-of-poverty rates, while the Czech Republic (nine per cent), the Netherlands and Slovakia (both 11 per cent) the lowest.

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