One out of six people in Malta at risk of poverty in 2024, new data shows

Updated 1.30pm

There were 92,690 people in Malta who were at risk of poverty in 2024, according to national data released on Monday.

The data, extracted from the annual European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions conducted by the National Statistics Office, revealed that the number of people living in households with a national equivalised income below the at-risk-of-poverty line (€12,258) was 92,690.

This translates into an at-risk-of-poverty (ARP) rate of 16.8 per cent - an increase of 0.2 percentage points when compared to the previous year.

The NSO said in a statement that European statistics on material deprivation are based on the capacity of households to afford a number of items from a set of 13.

Income statistics refer to calendar year 2023, while non-income components refer to calendar year 2024, which is the data collection year.

For the income reference year 2023, the average gross household income was estimated at €47,893.

Meanwhile, the estimate for the average disposable household income was €38,236.

Disposable income is defined as the amount of money available to households for spending purposes, after deducting taxes, social contributions, and alimony.

Monetary poverty

The at-risk-of-poverty (ARP) rate defines the number of people with an equivalised disposable income below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold (ARPT), set at 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income after social transfers.

The ARPT derived from EU-SILC 2024 was estimated at €12,258 - 7.9 per cent higher when compared to the previous year.

Based on the income year 2023, the number of at-risk-of-poverty people living in Malta was estimated at 92,690 or 16.8 per cent of the target population.

The ARP rate for men and women was calculated at 15.6 and 18.3 per cent, respectively, with a decrease (0.1 percentage point) registered for men and an increase (0.7 percentage points) registered for women.

The ARP rate among those aged under 18 was calculated at 24.1 per cent, increasing by 2.1 percentage points from the previous year.

Similarly, relative to EU-SILC 2023, the rate for those aged 65 years and over also increased by 0.7 percentage points to 29.7 per cent.

More than one in four don't afford one week holiday

When it comes to specific deprivation items, 28.8 per cent of the surveyed population stated their household could not afford to pay for a one-week annual holiday away from home.

This was followed by 18.3 per cent of respondents declaring that their household would not be able to settle an unexpected financial expense of around €900.

However, only 1.8 per cent of respondents indicated that their household cannot afford a car.

When it comes to personal items, 11.1 per cent said they were not able to afford to participate in a leisure activity on a regular basis and spend a small amount each week on themselves.

It was also reported that 5.4 per cent of the surveyed population was not capable of replacing worn-out clothes with some new ones, and 5.3 per cent was not capable of affording two pairs of properly fitting shoes.

Government reacts

In a statement, the Social Policy Ministry noted that in 2024, only 4 per cent of people in Malta were suffering severe material and social deprivation, compared to 4.1 per cent in 2023. 

During the pandemic - in 2021 - 5.4 per cent of the population suffered severe deprivation. The figure was double that (10.2 per cent) in 2013.

The ministry also noted that the NSO measured people's risk of poverty with 2023 data. Since then, the government has increased pensions, children's allowance, additional COLA and other benefits whose impact is not reflected in the data published on Monday. 

The ministry also welcomed data showing that on a scale of 0 to 10, the level of life satisfaction had increased from 7.4 in 2023 to 7.5 in 2024.

This, it added, was the highest level of satisfaction ever recorded since the collection of data kicked off in 2013.