The majority of Maltese believe poverty on the island is on the rise, according to a Eurobarometer survey measuring EU citizens' perception on the social impact of the global crisis.
The survey, conducted in Malta last December, shows over 70 per cent of respondents saying poverty increased on the island in the previous 12 months.
Only 11.2 per cent said they thought poverty had gone down and 10.8 per cent said the situation remained unchanged.
Caritas director Mgr Victor Grech last week called for the urgent and more realistic redefinition of the national poverty line, which stands at an annual income of €5,477. He said such redefinition was necessary due to the major changes in society over the past three years as a result of the recession.
Although poverty may be given different definitions, the Eurobarometer tried to establish what kind of destitution people were talking about by relating it to daily issues.
Asked whether in the previous 12 months they had faced difficulties coping with everyday needs, such as paying water and electricity bills, buying food and paying home loans, 63 per cent of Maltese conceded they were finding it more and more difficult to keep up.
Another 30 per cent described their situation as a "constant struggle" and 23 per cent said they had no problems.
The survey also tried to establish whether citizens were more optimistic or pessimistic about their financial situation in the future. Even in this area, pessimism among the Maltese ranked quite high.
Just over 40 per cent said they expected their financial situation within the household to be worse off this year and 38.3 per cent said they were expecting no real change. Only 12.7 per cent expected 2010 to bring a better financial situation.
Asked whether they would be able to afford an unexpected expense of €1,000 this year, almost 30 per cent said there was a high risk they would not be able to make it. On the other hand, 37 per cent said there should be no real problem meeting such an expense.
Asked about job prospects, 76 per cent said they very confident of keeping their job over the next 12 months while 17.7 per cent were pessimistic. However, 9.5 per cent said they were "not confident at all" about keeping their current job.
According to Eurobarometer, the EU citizens' views about poverty were negative across the board and more than half of respondents (between 54 and 76 per cent) believed destitution had increased at local, national and EU levels during the 12 months to December 2009.
Three-quarters of EU citizens said poverty had increased in their country in the 12 months prior to the survey.
As opposed to national and local levels, respondents found it difficult to estimate any change in poverty across the EU. Nevertheless, the proportion of those who thought poverty had strongly or slightly increased across the EU was significantly higher than those who thought there had been a decrease in the year prior to the survey.
Individual country results showed the greatest degree of variation in citizens' perceptions on changes in poverty levels in their area. While less than four in 10 respondents in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands believed local poverty had strongly or slightly increased in the period under consideration, more than three-quarters of respondents in Hungary, Lithuania, Bulgaria, France and Latvia had a similar perception.