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Persons are considered to be at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion if they are in at least one of the following states: at-risk-of-poverty, severely materially and socially deprived, or living in households with very low-work-intensity. These were estimated at 103,329, corresponding to 20.3 per cent of the population living in private households (Table 1).

At-risk-of-poverty

For 2021, the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, set at 60 per cent of the national equivalised income, was calculated at €10,222 (Table 3). Out of the population living in private households, 16.9 per cent were estimated to be at-risk-of poverty, remaining unchanged from the previous year. This is equivalent to around 85,754 persons. The largest share, 28.1 per cent, was registered among elderly persons aged 65 and over (Table 5). The relative median at-risk-of-poverty gap is an indicator which measures the extent to which the income of those persons who are at-risk-of-poverty falls below the at-risk-of poverty threshold. In 2021, this was estimated at 18.3 per cent, an increase of 2.3 percentage points, when compared with a year earlier (Table 7).

Deprivation indicators

The material and social deprivation indicator aims to capture the social dimension of poverty and therefore its coverage goes beyond the material dimension. Apart from items such as the ability to replace worn-out furniture and worn-out clothes, this statistic measures social pursuits, such as leisure activities undertaken regularly and meeting with family and friends.

Severely materially and socially deprived persons are considered as such if their household cannot afford at least seven items out of the 13 material and social deprivation items listed in methodological note 5 of this release. In 2021, 27,334 persons, equivalent to 5.4 per cent of the population living in private households, were estimated to fall in this category.

Materially and socially deprived persons are those who cannot afford at least five deprivation items. These were estimated at 9.8 per cent of the population, an increase of 0.4 percentage points from 2020. Across the 13 material and social deprivation items, the most prevalent deprivation item was the inability to pay for a week’s annual holiday away from home, accounting for 33.1 per cent of the population in private households (Table 8).

Low-work-intensity households

The third aspect of the at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion indicator relates to very low-work-intensity households defined as those in which the adults (aged 18 to 64) worked under one-fifth of their work potential in the year preceding the survey. In 2021, the low-work-intensity rate was calculated at 4.1 per cent of the private-household population (Chart 6)

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