Risk of poverty

The definition of poverty is based upon the low-income threshold. The low-income threshold represents a fixed (net) purchase amount and is annually adjusted for price developments. Expressed in 2009 prices, the annual net low-income limit for singles was 11,150 euro or 930 euro a month, i.e. 60 euro more than the disposable income for single social security recipients. For multi-person households, the low-income limit was adjusted for size and composition of the household by means of the equivalence factor.

The results are based on the article ‘Inkomen uit werk en toch risico op armoede’ (’Risk of poverty despite income from work’), which was published in the Socio-economic Trends (SET), 1st quarter 2011. The SET article includes results for the period 2002-2008. For the contribution to the Web Magazine, figures for 2009 were added. The results with respect to the number of working people with risk of falling below the poverty line are also based on the Income Panel Survey and not on the Labour Force Survey.

A working person with a risk of falling below the poverty line is defined as a person aged between 18 and 65 belonging to a low-income household who had an income from a paid job or was self-employed in 2009. Not included are students living outside the parental home (if they receive a student grant, they are not included in the target population).