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In 2016, as disposable income² of the population grew, also at-risk-of-poverty threshold went up – to 330 euros monthly (318 euros monthly in 2015).

After the sharp decline of 4.6%age points in 2015, the share of children at-risk-of-poverty did not change significantly and in 2016 constituted 18.4% (18.6% in 2015). In households consisting of one adult with dependent children, at-risk-of-poverty is still high and reaches 34.3% (34.4% in 2015).

At-risk-of-poverty in households consisting of two adults with three or more children has dropped notably – from 25.5% in 2015 to 19.8% in 2016. Significantly lower at-risk-of-poverty was observed in households consisting of two adults with one or two children – 13.4% and 14.4%, respectively.

In 2016, the share of population at-risk-of-poverty has risen within the population age group over 65 years (from 38.1% in 2015 to 39.9% in 2016). Very high at-risk-of-poverty is observed among single elderly population – if person aged over 65 lives alone, the indicator constitutes 72.8%.

At-risk-of-poverty rate by age group; 2008–2016 (as %)

Every year, very high at-risk-of-poverty (exceeding 50%, except for 2009 when those were 47.9%) was faced by unemployed persons; in 2016 the indicator reached 56.5%. For comparison, at-risk-of-poverty among employed persons constituted only 8.8% in 2016 (8.3% in 2015).

The data source of the relative poverty and social exclusion indicators is the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) survey of 2017 conducted by the CSB. The survey covered 6 thousand households and 11.3 thousand respondents aged 16 and over. The CSB will collect data on the household poverty risk in 2017 within the framework of the survey of 2018, and respondents will have a possibility to fill in the questionnaire online.

More information on the results of the survey is available in the CSB database section Monetary Poverty and Income Inequality.

Methodological explanations

The CSB monetary poverty and social exclusion indicators on 2016 reflect the information on population income received in 2016. Unlike the approach used by the CSB, Eurostat (Statistical Office of European Union) publishes monetary poverty and social exclusion indicators with a reference to the year the survey was conducted, nevertheless the population income data included in the indicator are compiled on the previous calendar year.  On 16 October 2017, Eurostat published EU-SILC 2016 results reflecting poverty and social exclusion statistics, the Latvian income and poverty risk data presented covered the year 2015.

¹At-risk-of-poverty rate – share of persons with equivalised disposable income below 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income.

²At-risk-of-poverty thresholdrepresents 60% of the median equivalised disposable income.

Median is a statistical indicator characterising central value (midpoint of the breakdown) of the observations grouped from the lowest value to the highest.

Disposable (net) income– cash income from labour, employee income in kind received by using company car for private needs estimated in cash, income or losses received from self-employment, pensions and benefits received, regular material assistance from other households, profit from  deposit interest, dividends, shares, income received by children aged under 16, income from property rental,  tax return from the State Revenue Service due to overpaid income tax (for business activities, eligible costs – education, medical treatment, etc.).

Equivalent disposable (net) income – household disposable income calculated per equivalent consumer. It is obtained by dividing household income by equivalised household size, which is made using the modified OECD equivalence scale (1.0; 0.5; 0.3). This scale gives a weight of 1.0 to the first adult, 0.5 to any other household member aged 14 and over, and 0.3 to each child aged less than 14.