The Survey on Income and Living Conditions held in 2017 on previous year incomes shows that 18.3% of the population was at-risk-of-poverty in 2016, declining from the previous year (19.0%). In 2016 the at-risk-of-poverty rate corresponded to the proportion of inhabitants with an annual net equivalent monetary income below €5,442 in 2016 (€454 a month).
The reduction in the risk of poverty specially concerned people under 18, from 22.4% in 2015 to 20.7% in 2016, and the elderly population from 18.3% to 17.0%. The at-risk-of-poverty rate for the working age adults declined slightly, from 18.2% in 2015 to 18.1% in 2016.
Women continue to be the most affected by the lack of resources: 18.7% compared to 17.8% for men.
The presence of children in a household continues to be associated with a higher risk of poverty (19.7% for households with dependent children and 16.9% for households without dependent children).
In 2016 the highest at-risk-of-poverty rates continued to be estimated for households composed of two adults with three or more dependent children and those of one adult with at least one dependent child (respectively, 41.4% and 33.1%).
The contribution from social transfers related to sickness and disability, family, unemployment, and social inclusion to the reduction of the at-risk-of-poverty rate was 5.3 percentage points (pp) in 2016, i.e. lower than in 2015 (6.1 pp).
There was a slight decrease in income inequality: the Gini Coefficient declined from 33.9% in 2015 to 33.5% in 2016, and the S80/S20 share ratio from 5.9 to 5.7.
In 2017, less people were materially deprived (18.0%, in comparison to 19.5% in 2016) and severely materially deprived (6.9%, in comparison to 8.4% in 2016).