In 2021, the national poverty threshold/ risk of poverty decreased in the North, Central, and Metropolitan Areas of Lisbon and Alentejo. It increased in the Algarve region (plus 0.5 percentage points (p.p)), and in the autonomous regions (plus 3.2 p.p. in the Autonomous Region of the Azores and an increase of 1.7 p.p. in the Autonomous Region of Madeira).
At 25.9%, Madeira remains the region with the highest poverty risk rate in the country, closely followed by the Azores, with 25.1%, and the Algarve at 22.1%.
The National Institute of Statistics released the data today, following the Survey on Living Conditions and Income, conducted in 2022 on income from the previous year. This indicates that 16.4% of people were at risk of poverty in 2021, 2.0 percentage points less than in 2020. The at-risk-of-poverty rate in 2021 corresponded to the proportion of inhabitants with net monetary income (per equivalent adult) below EUR 6,608 (EUR 551 per month).
According to the same source, poverty reduction covered all age groups, although it was more significant for the elderly population (minus 3.1 p.p.); the risk of poverty of children under 18 years of age decreased by 1.9 p.p. and that of adults of active age decreased by 1.6 p.p.
The risk of poverty decreased for both the employed population, from 11.2% in 2020 to 10.3% in 2021, and from 46.5% in 2020 to 43.4% in 2021 for unemployed members of society.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
