The persistent risk of poverty and material deprivation

The persistent risk of poverty remains a relative measure and does not necessarily signify that the people who are so distinguished are experiencing poverty in any absolute sense - even if, clearly, they are more likely to do so than those people whose income falls below 60% for only a single year. The link between the measure used for the persistent risk of poverty and being in poverty as such can be explored by examining the relationship between those at persistent risk and those identified as being materially deprived, in the sense that they are unable to afford three out of nine items covered by the EU-SILC that are considered to be important for a reasonable standard of living in the EU (see Indicators of material deprivation).

On average in the 24 countries for which relevant data are available, 44% of those measured as being at persistent risk of poverty (in the sense that they had income below 60% of the median in 2008 and in at least two of the previous three years) were also identified as being materially deprived at the time of the survey (Table 8). This proportion, however, varies considerably between countries, broadly reflecting the average income levels of households. The proportion is, therefore, large in countries with household income well below the EU average - in Latvia, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, in each of which the proportion is around two-thirds or greater. Bulgaria is the most extreme case among the 24 countries, with almost everyone at persistent risk of poverty being identified as materially deprived in 2009.

By contrast, in countries with relatively high household incomes, the proportion of those who are at persistent risk of poverty and who are also materially deprived, according to the indicator, is relatively small. This is especially the case in Sweden, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Denmark, in all of which the proportion of those persistently at risk of poverty and materially deprived is under 30%. It is less the case for Belgium, France, Cyprus and Austria, where the proportion is around 45%. 

The broad conclusion that can be drawn is that, insofar as the indicator of material deprivation that is typically used in the EU reflects absolute poverty, being at persistent risk of poverty in many of the more prosperous Member States does not tend to signify that those concerned are also poor in an absolute sense. In the Central and Eastern European countries, however, the two measures are much more closely related, and a large majority of those who are at persistent risk of poverty are also materially deprived and, accordingly, perhaps poor in an absolute sense.

See Tables