The inflationary crisis has clear social consequences: 201,000 people in Austria were materially and socially disadvantaged in 2022. This means that 2.3 percent of the population could not afford a number of expenses, such as new furniture, a holiday or a reasonably warm apartment. In 2021 there were still 160,000 people or 1.8 percent of the population. Women and single parents are particularly affected.
Statistics Austria announced this on Thursday. According to the EU definition, someone who cannot afford at least seven of the 13 characteristics and activities of daily living is considered materially and socially disadvantaged. These range from unexpected expenses of 1,300 euros to one holiday per year to a reasonably warm apartment.
Women over the age of 18 are most often affected
Of the 201,000 people affected, women aged 18 and older made up the largest group at 95,000 or 47 percent. In addition, 70,000 men over the age of 18 (35 percent) and 36,000 children and youth (18 percent) were among those affected by absolute poverty.
People in single-parent families are most at risk of significant material and social problems. At 12.7 percent, this group was five times more likely to be severely materially and socially disadvantaged than the general population. Single women (excluding retirees) were the second most affected group by lifestyle at 5.7 percent.
Housing costs as an extreme burden
Those 201,000 people with an absolutely low standard of living often faced a disproportionate burden of housing costs: 28.3 percent had housing costs that regularly amounted to more than 40 percent of their household income – in contrast, in the total population, the figure stood at 7.4 percent. People with material and social deprivation were more likely to live in – usually cheaper – community or co-operative housing (in 52.1 percent of all cases) than overall (22.6 percent of the total population).
The link between material and social problems and health is also becoming clear: of those aged 16 and over who were materially and socially disadvantaged, almost half (48.4 percent) described their general health status as poor or very poor. over the years it was 8.5 percent.
Minister: ‘The welfare state supports’
Social Affairs Minister Johannes Rauch (Greens) explained that the social situation in Austria had remained “largely stable” in a year of extremely high inflation. “This shows that we are on the right track with our aid measures,” Rauch emphasized in a broadcast. However, one thing is clear to him: “Poverty reduction remains a central task for politicians. Every person in poverty is one too many.” The good news for the Minister of Social Affairs is: “The welfare state supports. Without social benefits and pensions, the number of people at risk of poverty would be three times as high.” This year he wants to pay extra attention to the fight against child poverty.
In his remarks, Rauch also referred to the fact that the share of people at risk of poverty increased only relatively slightly from 14.7 to 14.8 percent in 2022. That’s 1.3 million people. 1.55 million people (17.5 percent) were at risk of poverty or exclusion, including 353,000 children and young people under the age of 18. A household is considered to be at risk of poverty or exclusion if it is materially and socially disadvantaged, i.e. if it is in absolute poverty, or has less than 60 percent of the median income at its disposal, or is in paid employment only to a small measure.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
