Poverty and social inclusion

A measure of the intensity of the poverty risk is the at-risk-of-poverty gap, which is the difference between the median income of people at-risk-of-poverty and the at-risk-of-poverty threshold expressed as a percentage of that threshold. Households at-risk-of-poverty have a median income that is around 17% lower than the threshold value.

People whose income is well below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold are designated as particular risk groups.

The at-risk-of-poverty is calculated on the basis of the equivalised household income. This is obtained by dividing the available household income by the number of consumption equivalents in the household. It is assumed that, as the size of the household increases and depending on the age of the children, cost savings are achieved in the household through joint budgeting (economies of scale). For weighting purposes, the EU scale (modified OECD scale) is used to calculate a household’s resource requirements. An adult living on his or her own is taken as the reference point (= consumption equivalent), with an allocated weighting of 1. For each additional adult, the assumed resource requirement increases by 0.5 consumption equivalents. Each child under the age of 14 is weighted with a consumption equivalent of 0.3. So a household comprising a father, mother and child would have a calculated consumption equivalent of 1.8 compared with a single-person household.

In 2010 17% of the population were considered as at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion in terms of the strategy Europe 2020. Between 1.2 and 1.5 million people are part of this target group. They are either at-risk-of-poverty or severely materially deprived or living in a household with very low work intensity. Severely materially deprived persons have living conditions severely constrained by a lack of resources, they experience at least 4 out of 9 following deprivations items: cannot afford to pay rent or utility bills, keep home adequately warm, face unexpected expenses, eat meat, fish or a protein equivalent every second day, a week holiday away from home, a car, a washing machine, a colour TV, or a telephone. People living in households with very low work intensity are people aged 0-59 living in households where the adults in working age (20-64 years, excluding students) work less than 20% of their total work potential during the past year.

The Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth is aiming to lift at least 20 million people out of the risk of poverty and social exclusion within the next ten years. For Austria this means to reduce the target group by 235 000 people.

Please consult our German website for tables and charts containing further information.