Cyprus poverty risk for 22.3% of population

Around 22.3% (194,400)  of Cyprus’ population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion, according to the results of a survey on Income and Living Conditions 2019.

According to the Cyprus Statistical Service, 22.3% of the population are living in households whose disposable income was below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold or living in severely materially deprived households or households with very low work intensity.

There was an improvement on the previous year when it stood at 23.9%, continuing its downward trend after reaching a 28.9% peak in 2015.

The percentage of the population that was at risk of poverty, meaning that its disposable income was below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, decreased to 14.7% from 15.4% in 2018.

The at-risk-of-poverty threshold in 2019 increased to €9,729 for single person household compared to €9,202 in 2018 and to €20,431 for households with 2 adults and 2 dependent children from €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, fell to 9.1% from 10.2% the year before.

A percentage of the population aged 0-59 years, that was living in households with very low work intensity, (adults worked less than 20% of their work potential), also showed a decrease in 2019, to 6.8% from 8.6% in 2018.

The mean annual disposable income of households in 2019, (income reference period 2018), was €33,584, increasing 9% on the previous year (€30,807).

Income share of the richest 20% was 4.6 times higher than the income share of the poorest 20% compared with 4.3 in 2018