Definition: the share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion is calculated as the ratio of the people belonging to at least one of three sub-populations and the total population. These sub-populations are people at risk of poverty, people living in a household with a very low work intensity and severally materially and socially deprived people.

This indicator was already used in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy. However, two of the three sub-indicators had a different definition then: severe material deprivation is now replaced by severe material and social deprivation (with an updated list of items) and the persons considered to calculate the indicator on very low work intensity changed slightly.

The general evolution of both indicators for Belgium and the UE27 is commented upon below. The indicator agreed upon in the context of the Europe 2020 strategy, with data available from 2004, is then referred to as '(EU 2020)'. For the indicator agreed after the Europe 2020 strategy in the context of the action plan for the European pillar for social rights, (European Commission, 2021) there is no specific label. Data in this case are available from 2015 at the earliest and the data for Belgium are also used to show the evolution by region and for different population categories..

Data on the share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion used here are based on the Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey (EU-SILC) of the European Union. The income data used to calculate the sub-population of persons at risk of poverty always refer to the year preceding the survey year. This is also the case for the employment data used to calculate the sub-population of persons living in households with very low work intensity. The data used to calculate the persons living in a situation of severe material deprivation and of severe material and social deprivation refer to the time of the survey.

Statistics Belgium organises this EU-harmonised survey in Belgium and makes the results available, in particular to Eurostat. 2004 is the first year for which European harmonised data have been collected to calculate the indicator. The data used here come from Eurostat, which publishes detailed and comparable results between EU Member States. Since these data are based on surveys, a margin of uncertainty should be taken into account. This margin of uncertainty increases as the indicator is calculated on smaller sub-populations. The confidence intervals for these data are available on request from Statistics Belgium.

From 2019 onwards, the methodology of the survey has been thoroughly revised for better accuracy. Therefore, the data collected until 2018 are not comparable with those collected from 2019 onwards. In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic impacted data collection. This makes it difficult to compare the results of SILC 2020 with those of previous years (Statbel, 2021). Therefore, they are not used to calculate and evaluate the long-term trend. It should also be noted that due to the widespread use of temporary unemployment during the Covid-19 pandemic, the category 'unemployed' in SILC 2021 includes not only the long-term unemployed, but also persons who have been temporarily unemployed for more than 6 months and who are generally living in less precarious conditions (Statbel, 2022).

Goal: the share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion must be halved, i.e. decrease from 21.6% in 2015 to 10.8% in 2030.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 1.2: “By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions”. In the Belgian context, it means that, by 2030, the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion must be halved.

The European Social Summit in Porto on 7 May 2021 agreed new social objectives for 2030 between the European Council, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the social partners in the context of the action plan for the European pillar for social rights, (European Commission, 2021). These objectives were endorsed by the European Council (European Council, 2021a, 2021b). A reduction by 2030 in the number of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU of at least 15 million, including 5 million children, was proposed.

In that framework, Belgium committed to reducing the number of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion based on SILC 2019 data with 279,000 persons, to 1.982 million persons by 2030. Specifically for children (persons under 18) and for the same period, the reduction target is 93,000 persons (Federal Public Service Social Security, 2023). Note that Belgium also adopted a target for persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion who are working: it should not exceed 4.9% by 2030 (European Commission, 2022; Federal Public Service Social Security, 2023).

International comparison: the share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion decreased in the EU27 from 24% in 2015 to 21.6% in 2022. In that period, the average for Belgium is 1.5 percentage points lower than that of the EU27. When Member States are divided into three groups, Belgium is part of the group with average performance and outperforms the European average in 2022. In that year, the Czechia ranked first with 11.8% and Romania last with 34.4%.

The share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion (EU 2020) decreased in the EU27 from 23.9% in 2010 to 21.5% in 2020. The average for Belgium over the period 2010-2020 is 2.7 percentage points lower than in the EU27. When Member States are divided into three groups, Belgium is part of the group with average performance and outperforms the European average in 2020. In that year, the Czech Republic ranked first with 11.9% and Bulgaria last with 32.1%.

UN indicator: the selected indicator corresponds to indicator 1.2.2 - Proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.

Sources

• General

  • SDG’s, duurzame-ontwikkelingsdoelstellingen (Sustainable Development Goals): United Nations (2015), Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, document A/RES/70/1.

  • Indicatoren: United Nations (2017), Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, document A/RES/71/313.

  • UN Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

  • UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators website: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

• Specific

  • European commission (2010), Europe 2020. A strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52010DC2020&from=EN (consulted on 24/09/2020).

  • European Commission (2021), Factsheet: The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan, https://www.2021portugal.eu/en/porto-social-summit/news/porto-social-summit-all-partners-commit-to-2030-social-targets/ (consulted on 02/05/2023).

  • European Commission (2022), The European Pillar of Social Rights: state of play on the national target for 2030, https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=89&furtherNews=yes&newsId=10299 (consulted on 02/05/2023).European Council (2021a), Conclusions – 24 and 25 June 2021, EUCO 7/21, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/media/50763/2425-06-21-euco-conclusions-en.pdf (consulted on 28/10/2021)

  • European Council (2021b), Porto Social Summit, 7 May 2021, https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/european-council/2021/05/07/social-summit/ (consulted on 28/10/2021)

  • Federal Public Service Social Security (2023), The evolution of the social situation and social protection in Belgium 2021, https://socialsecurity.belgium.be/sites/default/files/content/docs/en/publications/silc/silc-analysis-social-situation-and-protection-belgium-2021-en.pdf (consulted on 02/05/2023).

  • Statbel (2021), SILC FAQ, https://statbel.fgov.be/fr/themes/menages/pauvrete-et-conditions-de-vie/faq, see in particular "Y a-t-il des ruptures de séries dans la chronologie de l'enquête SILC ?" (consulted on 19/11/2021)

  • Statbel (2022), Risk of poverty or social exclusion - Indicators-SILC 2019-2021, https://statbel.fgov.be/en/themes/households/poverty-and-living-conditions/risk-poverty-or-social-exclusion#figures (consulted on 15/06/2022).

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