22.3% of Cyprus population at risk of poverty in 2019

The most recent European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) 2019 survey shows that 22.3% of the Cyprus population, that is 194,400 persons, are living in households that are at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

A press release issued on Monday by the Cyprus statistical service said the survey, that used data from the 2018 calendar year, found that 22.3% of the Cyprus population was living in households with a disposable income that was below the at-risk-of-poverty line, or was living in materially-deprived households.

The survey showed that the indicator improved in comparison with the previous calendar year, when the figure was at 23.9%, while a downward trend has been recorded since the figure stood at 28.9% in 2015.

According to Cystat, the improvement was reflected in the figures for both men and women, which were at 21.2% and 23.3%.

The at-risk-of-poverty threshold in 2019 increased to €9,729 for single-person households compared to €9,202 in 2018. The threshold for households with two adults and two dependent children increased to €20,431 in 2019, compared to €19,323 in 2018.

The percentage of the population that was severely materially deprived, meaning that they could not afford, for example, to pay their rent or utility bills or their loans, or keep their home adequately warm in winter, or face unexpected but necessary expenses decreased in 2019 to 9.1% in comparison to 10.2% in 2018.

The percentage of the population aged 0-59 years, that was living in households with very low work intensity, meaning that the adults in the household worked less than 20% of their work potential during the past year, also showed a decrease in 2019, reaching 6.8% in comparison to 8.6% in 2018.

The mean annual disposable income of a household for 2019, with income reference period the year 2018, was €33.584, exhibiting an increase of 9.0% with respect to that of the previous year, which was €30.807.

Income inequality is mainly described by the indicators on income distribution in quintiles, S80/S20 and the income inequality coefficient Gini. In 2019, both ratios of income inequality, referring to income year 2018, exhibited an increase in relation to the previous year, thus indicating a minor deterioration in the income distribution of the households.

Specifically, the S80/S20 ratio, the ratio of total income received by the 20 % of the population with the highest income (top quintile) to that received by the 20 % of the population with the lowest income (lowest quintile), reached 4,6 units in 2019. That is, the income share of the top quantile was 4.6 times higher than the income share of the lowest quantile, in comparison with 4.3 in 2018. Additionally, the Gini coefficient increased to 31.1%, in relation to 29.1% in 2018.