One in five Romanians affected by poverty in 2022

One in five Romanians was affected by poverty last year, and if pensions and other social transfers had not been paid, almost half of the population (45%) would have been below the relative poverty line, according to the National Institute of Statistics' data, published on Friday.The highest incidence of poverty was found among people aged 0-17 years (27.0%) and those aged 18-24 years (26.5%).The poverty rate of people living in households with minors and dependent young people aged 18-24 years was 23.5% in 2022, higher by 5.2 percentage points than that of people living in households without minors and dependent young people.The acute lack of financial resources makes some people unable to afford to own goods, make payments or consume products that, in the current stage of economic and social development, represent a minimum of elements necessary for a decent living.In 2022, the severe material and social deprivation rate was 24.3%, up 1.2 percentage points from the previous year.The total number of people affected by severe material and social deprivation in 2022 was 4.594 million people, of which 46.8% were men and 53.2% women. Severe material and social deprivation affects the population with varying intensity depending on the age group and household income. In 2022, the incidence of severe material and social deprivation is higher mainly in older people up to 18 years (30.8%) and elderly people aged 65 and over (25.8%).The at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate (AROPE) was 34.4% in 2022, corresponding to 6.5 million people.Age plays an important role, with the AROPE indicator being higher in 2022 in people aged 0-17 years (41.5%) and young people aged 18-24 years (39.4%) and lower in people aged 25-49 years (28.4%). The share of persons aged 65 and over who were at risk of poverty or social exclusion was 37.2%. In 2022, of the total number of employed persons aged 18 and over, 23.7% were at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion, compared to 42.5% of all unemployed persons, in the same age category.The highest incidence of the AROPE indicator, in 2022, was registered in households consisting of two adults with three or more dependent children (60.8%), followed by that of single-parent households, with an incidence of 47.3%.The risk of poverty or social exclusion is also unevenly distributed in regional profile. The highest rate of risk of poverty or social exclusion was registered in the South-East region (46.9%), closely followed by the South-West Oltenia region (44.7%), and the lowest rate was observed in the Bucharest-Ilfov region (19.2%).