Just under 62,000 people were at risk of poverty last year, according to the National Statistics Office.

The figure – 61,659, or 15.1 per cent of the population – represents a marginal drop of 0.5 per cent over the previous year.

The average household gross income and the mean disposable income stood at €26,746 and €22,379 respectively in 2012 when the poverty threshold increased by five per cent to €6,869.

The NSO said that people living in single-parent households were found to be more susceptible to being at risk of poverty.

Over half of the surveyed population claimed they could not afford to pay for a one-week annual holiday away from home, a quarter said they could not afford to face unexpected financial expenses and more than a fifth complained they were unable to keep their home adequately warm in winter.

 

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