Definition: the depth of risk of poverty is measured as the difference between the median equivalised total net disposable income of people living below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold and the at-risk-of-poverty threshold itself, expressed as a percentage of the at-risk-of-poverty threshold. The indicator gives an indication of the severity or depth of poverty in a country. The larger the indicator, the lower the income of people at risk of poverty. It is an instrument to quantify the nature of inequality within a society.

The at-risk-of-poverty threshold is set at 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income of all people living in the same country. That at-risk-of-poverty threshold is recalculated for each year. Net disposable income is equal to the sum of the gross incomes of all household members less taxes, social security contributions and transfers between households (EC, 2016). In order to obtain the net equivalised disposable income, the net disposable income is divided by an equivalence factor (the so-called ‘modified OECD’ equivalence scale). An adult has a factor of 1, each additional person from the age of 14 a factor of 0.5 and each additional person under the age of 14 a factor of 0.3. The net equivalised disposable income makes it possible to compare the standard of living of people, taking into account the economies of scale resulting from a joint household and the composition of the household. It is assumed that the standard of living of persons with a net equivalised disposable income below 60% of the national median in the total population is insufficient to meet the minimum acceptable living patterns in Belgium.

The data used here on the people at risk of poverty are based on the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey (EU-SILC), with income data that relate to the year preceding the survey year. This means, for example, for the survey year 2020 that in the calculation of this indicator the incomes of 2019 were used, which were not affected by the Covid-19 crisis (Statbel, 2021a).

Statbel 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 in order 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 a survey, a margin of uncertainty must be taken into account. This margin of uncertainty increases as the indicator is calculated on smaller sub-populations. The confidence intervals are available on request from Statbel.

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, 2021b). Therefore, they are not used to calculate and evaluate the long-term trend.

Goal: the depth of risk of poverty must be reduced.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 10.3: “Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including through eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and actions in this regard”.

In addition to target 10.3, the SDGs also include the following targets: “By 2030, progressively achieve and sustain income growth of the bottom 40 per cent of the population at a rate higher than the national average" (target 10.1); “By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status” (target 10.2); “Adopt policies, especially fiscal, wage and social protection policies, and progressively achieve greater equality” (target 10.4) and “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” (target 1.2).

In view of the basic principle that the standard of living of people at risk of poverty is insufficient to meet the minimum acceptable living patterns in Belgium, the Federal Long-Term Strategic Vision has set the following ambition for 2050, which goes beyond the SDGs or the Europe 2020 strategy: “Everyone will have an income from work, from property or from social protection systems and will have access to services of general interest. In this way, everyone will be able to meet all the needs for a decent life during all phases of his life” (objective 2, Belgian Official Gazette, 08/10/2013).

International comparison: the depth of risk of poverty is higher in the EU27 than in Belgium. Between 2010 and 2022 it fluctuated around 23.7%. In 2022 it was 23.1%. When Member States are divided into three groups, Belgium is part of the group with the best performance in 2022. In that year, Finland ranked first with 14.8% and Romania last with 32%.

UN indicator: the selected indicator does not correspond to any monitoring indicator for the SDGs but is related to target 10.3. Indeed, the indicator depth of poverty gives an indication of the severity of the poverty situation. The higher the indicator, the more difficult it is to ensure equal opportunities for people at risk of poverty and to eliminate inequalities influenced by their income situation.

Sources

• General

  • SDGs, 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.

  • Indicators: 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

  • Belgian Official Gazette: http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/cgi/welcome.pl; research on http://www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/doc/rech_f.htm (consulted on 24/09/2020).

  • EC (2016), Methodological guidelines and description of EU-SILC - Target Variables -015 operation (Version August 2016), DocSILC065 (2015 operation).

  • Statbel (2021a), Chiffres clés 2021, p. 31, https://statbel.fgov.be/fr/nouvelles/chiffres-cles-2021 (consulted on 10/12/2021)

  • Statbel (2021b), 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)

More information is available in French and Dutch.