Malta last year continued to see a gradual increase in the number of people at risk of poverty.
The value of financial management needs to be ingrained in our society
National data issued this month show that a fifth of the Maltese population was at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2010, a marginal increase over the previous year.
The same statistics show that 15.5 per cent of the population risked facing poverty strictly from a monetary perspective, a segment that was below 14 per cent in 2005.
However, economist Stephanie Cutajar said the at-risk-of-poverty indicator (with a threshold of €6,260 for 2010) did not measure wealth or poverty but low income in comparison to other residents and that it did not necessarily imply a low standard of living.
The results, she said, needed to be seen within the global economic environment of the past three years.
Despite economic challenges, Malta’s economy performed positively, with economic growth higher than the European averages and with unemployment on the decline.
However, such challenges still affected the population in a number of ways, mainly the re-adjustment of spending priorities.
“In Malta this re-adjustment affected utility bills with the removal of subsidies and this has definitely impinged on families’ disposable income. This is exacerbated by other social conditions such as the unemployed and the retired,” Ms Cutajar said.
The economist said that, supported by education, employment remained the best strategy towards social inclusion.
However, households also had to do their part.
“Balance and moderation also need to take place on how money is spent and the value of financial management needs to be ingrained in our society,” Ms Cutajar said.
For YMCA chairman Jean Paul Mifsud, the statistics provide a clearer picture. However, “each number represents a person in need”.
“Especially where children are involved, we should leave no stone unturned to assist and provide all that is required when, in reality, the state is failing pockets of children miserably by leaving them alone.”
Last year, YMCA assisted twice as many homeless people as it had done in 2010, when comparing to the January-to-September quarters. Worse still, scores more requested help but the NGO could not help out, Mr Mifsud said.
Leonid McKay, head of Caritas Malta’s Community Outreach, said poverty tended to affect specific groups of people.
Malta registered the highest share of single parents with dependent children who are below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold among the EU27 while families who rented their dwelling and households also had a lower average disposable income, he added.
Poverty also tended to have a geographic dimension. It is estimated that one out of every three children in the southern harbour regions is at risk of poverty.
This region fared worse also in other policy areas, namely unemployment and educational attainment. Evidence suggested that poverty clustering had a direct effect on the life chances of the poor, Mr McKay explained.
He insisted that distorted perceptions of poverty needed to be challenged. “Eurobarometer figures show that a big majority of the Maltese tend to blame the poor for being in the situation they were in. They attribute poverty to laziness and mismanagement.
“Poverty is a multi-faceted phenomenon and the ‘self-inflicted’ rhetoric is thus contributing towards more social exclusion of the poor,” he said.
Analysing the effects of poverty clustering of the poor could also help reduce poverty. Policies should seek to integrate the poor both socially and spatially rather than segregate families experiencing poverty and social exclusion, Mr McKay said.