One in six, or 150,000 persons, were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in Cyprus in 2022, according to the results of the Survey on Income and Living Conditions 2022, with income reference period the year 2021, published by the Statistical Service on Thursday.

Namely, according to AROPE indicator, the main indicator to monitor the EU 2030 target on poverty and social exclusion, 16.7% of the population was at risk of poverty or social exclusion, since they were living in households whose disposable income was below the at-risk of-poverty threshold or were severely materially and socially deprived or were living in households with very low work intensity.

The Statistical Service notes that the indicator exhibited a minor improvement in comparison with the previous year (17.3%), continuing its downward trend of the recent years. This improvement is reflected in both women and men, although throughout the years, women are maintaining their unfavorable position in respect to men.

Furthermore, the improvement of the indicator is attributed to the decrease in the percentage of the population living in households with very low work intensity (from 5.8% in 2021, to 4.1% in 2022). This is the percentage of the population aged 0-64 that was living in households whose adults aged 18-64 worked less than 20% of their work potential during the past year. From the adults are excluded the students aged 18-24, people who are retired according to their self defined current economic status or who receive any pension (except survivor’s pension), people in the age bracket 60-64 who are inactive and living in a household where the main income is pensions (except survivor’s pension).

In addition, in 2022, the percentage of the population that was at risk of poverty, meaning that its disposable income was below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, was 13.9% or 125,000 persons, remaining around the same level with that of 2021 (13.8%).

The at-risk-of-poverty threshold, which is defined at the 60% of the median total equivalized disposable income of the households, was estimated in 2022 at €10,713 for single person households and at €22,498 for households with 2 adults and 2 dependent children. The respective thresholds for 2021 were €10,011 and €21,024. The median equivalized disposable income in 2022 was €17,855 in comparison to €16,825 in 2021.

It is worth noting, that the percentage of the population living at risk of poverty, before any social benefits and pensions were included in the disposable income of the households, was estimated at 33.3%. When only pensions were included in the disposable income of the households, this percentage was reduced to 20.1%, while when social benefits were further included, the percentage was reduced to 13.9%.

"Consequently, it is confirmed that social transfers contribute to the reduction of the percentage of the people living at risk of poverty", the Statistical Service notes, adding that in 2022, all the social transfers reduced the indicator by 19.4 percentage points, (13.2% as a result of pensions and 6.2% as a result of the social benefits).