The Risk of Poverty in Croatia Increased to 21.1 Percent

The risk of poverty rate in Croatia in 2011 is 21.1 percent, which is 0.5 percentage points higher than in 2010 when the risk of poverty rate was 20.6 percent, announced today by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS).

According to previous data from the DZS, the poverty risk threshold for a single-person household last year in Croatia was 24,240 kuna, and for a household with two adults and two children, it was 50,904 kuna.

This means that a four-member household needed at least 4,242 kuna per month to exceed the poverty risk threshold last year, while a single-person household needed 2,020 kuna per month.

Individuals whose income is below the threshold are at a higher risk of poverty than others, but do not necessarily live in deprivation. Namely, the poverty risk rate does not show how many people are actually poor but how many have an income below the poverty risk threshold, the DZS notes.

Last year, the poverty risk rate according to the most common activity status was highest for unemployed individuals at 42.5 percent, followed by other inactive individuals at 33 percent and retirees at 22.2 percent. In all three groups, the poverty risk rate is somewhat lower than it was in 2010, by 2.2 percentage points for the unemployed, by two percentage points for other inactive individuals, and by one percentage point for retirees.

Conversely, the poverty risk rate for those who are employed has increased, with a more pronounced rise recorded among the self-employed, where the rate increased by almost five percentage points, from 12.7 percent in 2010 to 17.6 percent in 2011. The lowest poverty risk rate is for employed individuals, standing at 5.3 percent, which is 0.3 percentage points higher than in 2010.

According to previous data from the DZS, the comparison of the basic rate and the poverty risk rate before social transfers shows that excluding social transfers from income affects the increase in the percentage of individuals at risk of poverty from the basic 21.1 percent to a rate of 30.7 percent. If both social transfers and pensions are excluded from income, then the poverty risk rate amounts to 46.7 percent, the DZS states.

Poverty indicators, statisticians note, are calculated from data collected through the Income Survey of the Population. This survey was introduced into the statistical system of Croatia in 2010, is aligned with EU regulations and Eurostat methodology, and is comparable with EU countries, thus the DZS also provides a comparison of Croatia with those countries.

According to Eurostat estimates, the poverty risk rate for EU-27 last year was 16.5 percent. The lowest rate was recorded in the Czech Republic at 9.8 percent, followed by the Netherlands at 11 percent, Austria at 12.6 percent, Denmark and Slovakia at 13 percent, and Luxembourg and Slovenia at 13.6 percent.

Among EU countries, four countries have a poverty risk rate higher than 20 percent – Greece at 21.4 percent, Spain at 21.8 percent, while the highest rates were recorded in Romania and Bulgaria at 22.2 percent and 22.4 percent, respectively.