‘Real poor’ total 9,200, academic cautions over misinterpreted figures

Mark Twain listed statistics as convenient numbers that could bolster weak arguments and lies, and surely this might be the case of a headline-hungry media that has often muddled on the scale of absolute poverty in Malta.

This was the salient point in the presentation of Dr Maya Brinkworth as she scaled down a figure of 94,000 people once listed in Malta in 2015 as being “at risk of poverty or social exclusion” down to 9,200 who were, in actual fact, at risk of poverty, severely materially deprived, and not working enough.

“The media prefers the aggregate figure because it sells newspapers better, but also this indicator that is used by the EU also offers a one-dimensional approach,” Brinkworth said.

“All these 94,000 people are different, living in different households, with different biases and circumstances, even different conditions brought on by particular austerity policies introduced by different EU governments.”

Brinkworth pointed out that while the EU’s Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) found 185,000 Maltese declaring they could not afford a week-long holiday, National Statistics Office tourism figures found 396,000 Maltese – almost the entire population – having spent just over a week on holiday, at an average spend of €977 individually.

“We’re an island resort where weekend breaks are possible and we don’t have an institution of having an annual summer holiday,” Brinkworth explained.

She also illustrated nuances in the 2015 data where some 16,000 – the top 20% earners who fell in the at-risk-of-poverty (AROP) category – could be generated household incomes of up to €79,000.

Or in the case of 2013 data, where 4,600 in the top 40%  earners could be self-employed or property landlords who were not really socially excluded, but fell into the ‘AROP’ category because they worked less hours than anyone else.

“Being alarmist does not help the poor. The real poor, which includes elderly and unemployed, were more likely to be 9,200 in 2015.”

At risk of poverty rate

Malta’s monetary “at-risk-of-poverty” rate increased over 2014, with 16.3% of households falling into this category according to NSO data,

The more serious “at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion indicator” saw 5,000 persons exit from poverty, and now stands at 22.4% in 2015, down from 23.8% in 2014: these are people whose income is below the poverty line, but are also severely materially deprived, and who lived in low work intensity households.

The monetary poverty line refers to people who live in private households where their median income is 60% that of the national median.

As median income increases on average, more people tend to fall below the 60% threshold but the rate at which this grows has also slowed down since 2013.

In 2014, when median income was €12,787, there were 65,987 persons in households whose total income, spread individually among members of a household, would amount to some €7,600 individually; so that would mean that they roughly could be earning close to €35,000 as a household of four.

In 2015, the national median income increased to €13,493 with 68,658 falling on the poverty line, where household incomes would be just over the 60% threshold of €8,096.

The median earnings of a household depend on the size of the household, and according to how many members are in gainful employment.

Malta’s average household disposable income also increased from €24,730 in 2014 to €25,960 in 2015.