In Poland, 6.6% of the population lived in extreme poverty, i.e. at the subsistence level. people, which means an increase of 2 percentage points. per year – according to data from the Central Statistical Office.
“In 2023, the extent of extreme poverty increased significantly, while the extent of relative poverty was comparable to 2022. However, the extent of legal poverty has decreased,” we read in the announcement from the Central Bureau of Statistics published on Friday. .
Statistics Netherlands reported that the increase in the extent of extreme poverty observed on an annual basis in 2023 occurred as the average income situation of households improved (in nominal and real terms).
In the case of extreme poverty, the range was around 6-7 percent of people in households in the years 2010-2015, and from 2016 to 2022 – around 4-5 percent. In 2023, however, it has increased significantly to 6.6%.
Who in Poland is most at risk of poverty?
“The group least at risk of extreme poverty were people from households whose main source of income was self-employment (3.8%). Extreme poverty rates lower than the country average were also observed among retiree households (5.9%). According to the Bureau’s data, the level of extreme poverty among people from households that earned their living mainly through hired work was close to the country average (6.4%).
“The extent of extreme poverty decreased with increasing education level. People from households where the head of the household had at most a secondary education were most likely to experience extreme poverty (12.8%).
The level of extreme poverty among people from households where the reference person had basic vocational/industrial training was also clearly higher than average (9.5%). The lowest level of extreme poverty was consistently recorded among households with a reference person with a higher education (3.5%).
A disability increases the risk of poverty
As in previous years, a disability increases the risk of extreme poverty. In 2023, the extreme poverty rate in households with at least one person with a disability certificate was 9%, while in households without such persons it was 6.1%.
“As in previous years, in 2023 a large difference in the extent of extreme poverty was recorded between urban residents (3.3%) and rural residents (11.5%), who experienced extreme poverty much more often,” writes Statistics Netherlands.
The greater the number of dependent children in the household, the greater the risk of extreme poverty. Among married couple households with at least three dependent children, the registered rate of extreme poverty in 2023 was 6.9%, while among married couple households without dependent children it was 1.7%, comparable to single-person households (1.6%).
“In 2023, in contrast to previous years, a greater degree of extreme poverty was registered in households with 2 people aged 0 to 17 years than in households with at least 3 such people,” we read further.
The extent of relative poverty remained at a similar level to a year earlier (12.2% – an increase of 0.5 percentage points), the extent of legal poverty decreased (by approximately 2 percentage points to 4.1%) with the same poverty thresholds as the year before.
Types of poverty according to the Central Bureau of Statistics
The extreme poverty rate is the percentage of people in households whose expenditure level (including the value of items received for free and the value of natural consumption) was lower than the extreme poverty line (minimum subsistence level), which determines the level of need satisfaction under which there is is a biological threat to human life and psychophysical development.
The relative poverty rate is the percentage of people in households whose expenditure level (including the value of free items received and the value of natural consumption) was lower than the 50-year relative poverty line. [rpc/ średnich miesięcznych wydatków ustalonych na poziomie wszystkich gospodarstw domowych z uwzględnieniem tzw. oryginalnej skali ekwiwalentności OECD.
Stopa ubóstwa ustawowego to odsetek osób w gospodarstwach domowych, w których poziom wydatków (obejmujących również wartość artykułów otrzymywanych bezpłatnie oraz wartość spożycia naturalnego) był niższy niż tzw. ustawowa granica ubóstwa, tj. kwota która zgodnie z obowiązującą ustawą o pomocy społecznej uprawnia do ubiegania się o przyznanie świadczenia pieniężnego z systemu pomocy społecznej.
Source: Do Rzeczy
Roy Brown is a renowned economist and author at The Nation View. He has a deep understanding of the global economy and its intricacies. He writes about a wide range of economic topics, including monetary policy, fiscal policy, international trade, and labor markets.
