1 in 5 pensioners at risk of poverty in Malta

The proportion of pensioners at risk of poverty in Malta has increased every year since 2013 and now stands at 21.8%, according to Eurostat data.

Although Malta boasts of Europe’s fastest economic growth rate, one in five pensioners are at risk of poverty as of 2017, the highest rate since 2010. The lowest rate recorded by Malta since 2010 was in 2013 when 14.3% of pensioners were at risk of poverty.

2017 saw an increase of 0.8% over the previous year, placing Malta at the bottom end of the table.

Only Estonia (46 %), Latvia (44 %), Lithuania (37 %), Bulgaria (32 %) and Croatia (24.5%) have more pensioners at a higher risk of poverty. The EU average stands at 14%, meaning that one out of every seven pensioners throughout the EU are at risk of poverty.

The lowest rates in 2017 were recorded in France (7 %), Slovakia (8 %), Denmark, Hungary and Luxembourg (all 9 %).

Moreover, male pensioners in Malta have higher at-risk-of-poverty rates than female pensioners, with a 5 percentage point higher rate.

According to Eurostat, individuals are identified as being at risk of poverty if their equivalised disposable income is less than 60 % of the national median equivalised disposable income after social transfers have been taken into account.

In the general population, the proportion of individuals identified as being at risk of poverty in the EU in 2017 was 17.0 %.