The population exposed to a risk of poverty

A more detailed analysis of the longitudinal data enables a deeper insight to be gained of the movements in and out of the risk of poverty, and of the number of people affected. Examining the experience each year over the four-year period 2005-2008 indicates that, on average, around 30% of the population in the EU (or at least in the 24 countries for which data are available) experienced at least one year when their income was below the poverty threshold. The proportion, however, varied from just 14.5% in Sweden (the EU country with the smallest proportion of people at risk of poverty) and just over 16% in the Czech Republic, to 39% in Greece and 42% in Latvia, implying that two out of every five people in the country saw their income fall below 60% of the median for at least one year in the period (Table 2).

On average, around 60% of those at risk of poverty in at least one of the years in the period had income below the poverty threshold for at least two years - i.e. a minority of the people whose income fell below this threshold (only 40%) experienced only one year when this was the case. The proportion of those experiencing a risk of poverty and who had income below 60% of the median for two or more years was particularly small in Slovakia (48%), implying that there was a relatively good chance of households increasing their income above the poverty threshold if it fell below. The proportion was also relatively small in the UK (confirming the implication drawn from Table 1).

On the other hand, the proportion was well above average in Luxembourg, Italy and Cyprus (72-75%), implying (again in line with Table 1), that those whose income falls below the poverty threshold have a relatively high probability of it remaining below for a number of years.

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