CYPRUS: One in four Cypriots still face the risk of poverty

Despite an economic recovery and the end of harsh austerity the number of Cypriots close to the poverty trap is still one in four even after a slight drop.

Data released on Monday shows that people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, dropped in 2017 to 25.2% from 27.7%.

According to a survey on Income and Living Conditions (SILC), 25.2% of the population or 214,636 people were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, known as the AROPE indicator, one of the 9 headline indicators in the European Union’s strategy «Europe 2020».

Around a quarter of the population was living in households whose disposable income was below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, were living in severely material deprived households or living in households with very low work intensity.

This indicator showed an improvement compared with the previous year’s 27.7%.

“This improvement is reflected both in the percentages of men and women, 24% and 26.4% respectively, with women maintaining their unfavourable position in respect to men,” said the report.

The at-risk-of-poverty threshold in 2017 was €8,698 for single-person households from €8,412 in 2016 and it was €18,266 for households with 2 adults and 2 dependent children up from €17,665 in 2016.

The percentage of the population that were severely material deprived; unable to pay their rent, utility bills, their loans, or keep their home adequately warm in winter, fell in 2017 to 11.5% compared to 13.6% in 2016.

Those aged 59 or under, living in households with very low work intensity – where adults worked less than 20% of their work potential – also dropped to 9.4% from 10.6%.

The mean annual disposable income of households was €30,376, remaining at almost the same levels of the previous year at €29,942.

There was an improvement in the income distribution of the households.

Income share of the richest 20% was 4.6 times higher than the income share of the poorest 20% compared with 4.9 in 2016.

The survey conducted in 2017 covered a sample of 4,311 households in all districts of Cyprus, both urban and rural areas.