640,000 people face risk of poverty in 2018

About 640,000 people or 11.8 cent of the household population belonged to households were at risk of poverty in 2018, according to Statistics Finland.

The number and share of persons at risk of poverty fell slightly from the previous year, when the number of persons belonging to households at risk of poverty was 654,000. T

he at-risk-of-poverty rate has varied in the past five years on both sides of 12 per cent.

The relative risk of poverty has varied in the past ten years between 623,000 and 728,000 persons, when the used at-risk-of-poverty threshold is 60 per cent of median income.

In 2018, the at-risk-of-poverty threshold was EUR 14,970 per year for one-person households, that is, around EUR 1,250 per month.

Households’ median income from which the at-risk-of-poverty threshold is counted was EUR 24,950 in 2018.

The at-risk-of-poverty rate of persons at retirement age has grown in the past few years.

The growth of risk of poverty of elderly people comes mostly from single-person households and those aged 65 to 74. Around every tenth of persons aged 65 to 74 was at risk of poverty in 2018, that is, fewer than average for the population.

Good 21 per cent of persons aged 75 or over were at risk of poverty. The median income of pensioner households aged 65 to 74 decreased slightly in 2018, and median income improved somewhat for those aged 75 or over.

It is typical of pensioners at risk of poverty that they are often quite close to the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, that is, their income is more than 50 but under 60 per cent of the national median income.