LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – One out of every six people in Maltese households were at risk of poverty last year. This was confirmed by lofficial data released by the National Statistics Office. Statistics from the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey show that 88,462 people were under the poverty line in 2023. This means that 16.6% of the local population was at risk of poverty, a marginal decrease of 0.1% over 2022. A fifth (22%) of those at risk of poverty were aged under 18 years, an increase of 2.7 percentage points from the previous year. Meanwhile, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points was observed among people aged 18 to 64, equivalent to 12.1% in 2023.
The rate for those aged 65 or more went down to 29%, equivalent to a decrease of 1 percentage point. Material and social deprivation indicators are based on 13 items, of which seven relate to the person’s household and six relate to the person.
When compared to 2022, the highest increases in 2023 were recorded in the group of respondents who said that their household was unable to afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish, or vegetarian equivalent every second day, and those whose household found it difficult to face unexpected financial expenses. On a scale from zero to 10, where zero represents not satisfied at all, and 10 represents completely satisfied, respondents at risk of poverty or social exclusion reported lower average scores when it comes to their satisfaction with overall life, financial situation, current job, and personal relationships when compared to those not at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion. Average scores for overall satisfaction about at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion were slightly higher in 2023 when compared to 2022. Particularly, in 2023 respondents at risk of poverty or social exclusion reported a mean score of seven for satisfaction with their overall life – an increase of 0.2 points from 2022 and a mean score of 6.2 for satisfaction with their financial situation, translating into an increase of 0.4 points. They also reported a mean score of 7.4 for satisfaction with their current job – an increase of 0.1 points from 2022, and a mean score of 8.5 for satisfaction with personal relationships, representing an increase of 0.3 points.
(ITALPRESS).
– Photo credit: Ipa Agency –
