AGE NEWSFLASH 16/02/2010
In a recent study paper issued by the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research in Vienna “Poverty Risks for Older People” Asghar Zaidi shows how considerably EU countries differ in terms of poverty risks among older people. Using different methods to measure the risk of poverty, the author also provides evidence against the broadly shared opinion that older people in new Member States face low poverty risk levels.
“The most striking result is that many of the Eastern European EU Member States stand out as more often materially deprived than the EU15 bloc of countries”, states Asghar Zaidi. The author pledges in favour of the “material deprivation rate”, a method to measure the capacity to afford goods and services considered as necessary by most people to have an adequate living standard. Such indicator is a reliable complementary alternative to the commonly used “at-risk-of-poverty rate” which considers as poor people those living with a disposable income below 60% of the national median income. Indeed, very important differences between the two indicators are observed for the older population in several new Member States. The paper concludes that the above results “…raise doubts about the validity of the at-risk-of-poverty rate for the Eastern European countries, especially the one adopting the 60% of the national median as the poverty line”.
The above findings strengthen AGE members’ call on the urgent need to tackle the persisting poverty among older population in new Member States. Although considered being in a “relatively” better financial situation than some other population groups, such as children and youth, on average 38% of older people in 10 Eastern European Member States face material deprivation.
At the launch of the 2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, Commission’s President Barroso and Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero committed openly to combat the persisting poverty among people aged 65 and over. AGE welcomed these important promises and expects now that all Member States will d o their utmost during the European Year to translate them into reality, improving eventually the well-being and dignity of older people.
Last Updated on Tuesday, 23 March 2010 15:51
