1 in 4 are at risk of poverty

By Marie Kambas

THE number of Cypriots at risk of poverty last year rose to 27.8 per cent of the population, or 240,000 people, Eurostat said on Wednesday, with the number of materially deprived also rising compared to five years earlier.

Charting social trends throughout the European Union last year, Eurostat said more than 120 million persons, or 24.5 per cent of the EU population, were at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

In the case of Cyprus, Eurostat said, 27.8 percent of the population were at risk of either poverty, were severely materially deprived, or lived in households where adults worked less than 20 per cent of their total work potential.

In the severely materially deprived category, Cyprus registered a 7 point increase to 16.1 per cent as those whose living conditions were constrained by lack of resources, such as not being able to pay their bills or keep their home warm. In that category, the EU average was 9.6 per cent.

At 7.9 per cent, Cyprus was lower in the “low work density” category of persons working below potential compared to the EU average of 10.7 per cent. Greece ranked the highest with an 18.2 per cent rate of households where adults worked less.

The survey showed that those facing the highest risk of poverty were Bulgarians, at 48 per cent, followed by Romania at 40.4 per cent and Greece, at 35.7 per cent.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.