At 17.3% the risk of poverty or social exclusion in Cyprus in 2021
18 August 2022, “Haravgi” newspaper
Based on the results of the Income and Living Conditions Survey 2021, with fiscal year 2020 as the reference year, 17.3% of the population or 154,000 people were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, according to figures released by the Cyprus Statistical Service.
The relevant indicator, AROPE, is the main indicator for monitoring the European Union’s 2030 poverty and social exclusion target.
More specifically, 17.3% of the population lived in households with disposable income below the poverty line or lived in households with severe material and social deprivation or lived in households with a very low labour intensity index.
The indicator shows a slight improvement compared to the previous year when it stood at 17.6%, continuing the downward trend of recent years. The improvement is exclusively reflected in the rate for men (15.8%), since the rate for women has remained roughly at the same level (18.7%) as in 2020. Over time, women have remained in a worse position than men.
At-Risk-of-Poverty Indicator (AROP)
The percentage of the population at Risk of Poverty, i.e. whose disposable income was below the At-risk-of-poverty monetary threshold, showed a slight decrease, reaching 13.8% compared to 14.3% in 2020. The highest percentage this index has ever reached was in 2015 at 16.2%. The Money Poverty Risk Threshold remained almost the same between 2021 and 2020, at €10,011 in 2021 for one-person households compared to €10,022 in 2020 and at €21,024 for households with two adults and two dependent children, compared to €21,047 in 2020.
Serious Material and Social Deprivation Index (SMSD)
The percentage of the population with Severe Material and Social Deprivation, i.e. the proportion of the population deprived of at least 7 out of 13 types of material and social deprivation due to economic hardship, decreased to 2.6% in 2021 compared to 3.2% in 2020. The types of material and social deprivation consist of 7 at the household level, e.g. financial inability of the household to pay their electricity/water bills or loans, or could not have adequate heating in winter or face an emergency but necessary expense, etc, and 6 at a personal level, e.g. the person is financially unable to spend a small amount of money on himself/herself or to participate in leisure activities or to meet friends or relatives for drinks/meals at least once a month, etc.
Very Low Work Intensity Index (LWI)
The proportion of the population aged 0-64 living in households with a very Low Work Intensity Index, meaning that adults in the household worked less than 20% of their total capacity in the past year, shows a slight increase in 2021, reaching 5.6% compared to 5.3% in 2020.
Economic Inequality
The average annual net disposable household income for 2021, with fiscal year 2020 as the reference year, was €34,227, showing an increase of 1.1% compared to the previous year’s €33,862.
Economic inequality is mainly expressed by the quintile income distribution index (S80/S20) and the index of unequal income distribution, Gini coefficient. In 2021 these indices, remained roughly at the same level as in the previous year. In particular, the S80/S20 index, which looks at the share of the income of the richest 20% of the population to the income of the poorest 20% of the population, reached 4.2 in 2021. That is, the share of the income of the richest 20% of the population was 4.2 times higher than the income of the poorest 20% of the population, up from 4.3 in 2020. The Gini coefficient in 2021 was 29.4% compared to 29.3% in 2020.
