Persistent risk of poverty by age

Like the risk of poverty, the persistent risk of poverty tends to be higher among children and older people (aged 65 and over) than among the population of working age. The extent to which this is the case, however, varies markedly across Member States.

The proportion of those aged 65 and over at persistent risk of poverty was, on average, almost twice that of those aged 25-39 in the 2008 income year (13% as against 7%) (Table 4). In all but seven countries - the Czech Republic, Greece, France, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Netherlands and Poland - the persistent risk of poverty among those of 65 and over was higher than for any other section of the population, in most cases considerably higher. In Cyprus, around 45% of those aged 65 and over were at persistent risk - almost as many as those at risk - while in Latvia, the proportion was around 37%, and in Estonia, Denmark and Finland it was 20% or more.

In all countries, except for Denmark, Austria and Finland - in each of which it is much the same - the relative number of children at persistent risk of poverty was higher than the figure for people of working age. It was particularly high in Greece (18%), where again most of those at risk of poverty were also at persistent risk, as well as in Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria (16-17%).

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