In absolute terms, the number of poor people last year was 4.02 million Romanians, which is 278,000 less than in 2021, the INS reported on Friday.

• 21.2% of the resident population lived in households whose income was below the threshold set at 60% of the median disposable income per adult equivalent;

• almost a quarter (24.3%) of the population suffered from an acute lack of financial resources;

• Almost 600,000 people under the age of 65 (4.2%) lived in households with very low work intensity

• The poverty rate by gender (21.7% for women and 20.8% for men) shows that there are no significant differences between women and men.

• The highest level of poverty was found among persons aged 0-17 (27.0%) and 18-24 (26.5%).

• The poverty rate for people living in households with minors and youth aged 18–24 was 23.5% in 2022, 5.2 percentage points higher than for households without minors and youth.

• Social transfers play an important role in reducing poverty. If pensions and other social benefits were not paid in 2022, almost half of the population (45.0%) would be below the relative poverty line, and obviously the situation would worsen in the case of the elderly (65 years and older), who, in the share of 84.8%, would be in a state of relative poverty. The same situation would exist among people aged 55-64, but in a smaller proportion, 51.5%.

Severe material and social shortages

The acute lack of financial resources means that some people cannot afford to own some goods, make certain payments or consume certain products, which at the current stage of economic and social development constitute the minimum elements necessary for a decent life.

In 2022, 24.3% felt an acute lack of financial resources, which is 1.2 percentage points higher. more compared to the previous year.

The total number of people affected by severe material and social deprivation in 2022 was 4.59 million, of whom 46.8% were men and 53.2% were women.

Severe material and social deprivation affects the population with varying intensity depending on age group and household income. In 2022, the incidence of serious material and social deprivation is higher mainly among people under the age of 18 (30.8%) and people over the age of 65 (25.8%).

Very low work intensity

In 2022, among persons under the age of 65, 597,000 were in households with very low labor intensity (households in which adults of working age engaged in activities that required less than 20% of their labor potential).

Compared to last year, the number of people in households with very low labor intensity decreased by 105,000 people.

The gender distribution of these people shows that the number of women exceeded the number of men in 2022 by 47 thousand people. The proportion of people aged under 65 living in households with very low work intensity is higher among women compared to men by 0.9 percentage points (4.7% of women vs. 3.8% of men).

Level of risk of poverty or social isolation

The At Risk of Poverty or Social Exclusion Rate (AROPE) in 2022 was 34.4%, corresponding to 6.5 million people. Compared to 2021, there is a decrease in the value of the indicator by 0.1 percentage point, or by 61 thousand people.

The level of risk of poverty or social isolation affects women more than men (35.9% of women and 32.8% of men).

Age plays an important role, AROPE in 2022 was higher for people aged 0-17 (41.5%) and young people aged 18-24 (39.4%) and lower for people aged 25-49 (28, 4%). . The share of people aged 65 and over who are at risk of poverty or social isolation was 37.2%. In 2022, among all employed people aged 18 and over, 23.7% were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared to 42.5% of all unemployed people in the same age group.

People who lived in households without minors and young people aged 18-24 have a lower risk of poverty or social exclusion (32.2%) compared to people who lived in households with minors and young people aged 18-24 (36 .0%) .

The highest incidence is recorded in households consisting of two adults who have three or more dependent children

The highest prevalence of the AROPE indicator in 2022 was recorded in households consisting of two adults with three or more dependent children (60.8%), followed by single-parent households with a prevalence of 47.3%.

For households without minors and dependents aged 18-24, the highest incidence was found among households consisting of one person (43.6%), compared to 27.5% for households with two or more adults.

Risk of poverty: highest in the Southeast and Olten

The highest level of risk of poverty or social exclusion was recorded in the South-East region (46.9%), followed by the South-West Oltenia region (44.7%), and the lowest level was observed in the Bucharest-Ilfov region ( 19.2% ).

The intersection of the components of the AROPE indicator provides information for a detailed analysis of the influence of each of the three components on the evolution of the composite indicator.

Of the 6.5 million people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, 4,594,000 people were in a state of severe material and social deprivation, which is the most frequent of the three situations.

Some people at risk of poverty or social exclusion are only in one of the 3 situations. Thus, approximately 2,347,000 people experienced severe material poverty, but were not in the other 2 situations of poverty risk and did not live in households with very low labor intensity, 1,698,000 people were only at risk of poverty, and 115,000 people lived in households with very low labor intensity, which were not affected by the other two situations.

Looking at the intersection of the two components of the AROPE indicator, it can be seen that 1,883,000 people were at risk of poverty and social exclusion and were severely materially and socially deprived, 118,000 people were at risk of poverty and lived in households with a very low level of work, and the least number of people , 34 thousand people, lived in households with very low labor intensity and were seriously materially and socially deprived.

Approximately 330,000 people faced all three situations simultaneously: in other words, they were at risk of poverty, were in a state of severe material and social deprivation, and lived in households with very low work intensity.