Car a must for most Maltese, but two-thirds can’t afford annual holiday

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=100342

Only two per cent of the Maltese people can’t afford a personal car, but a startling 65 per cent can’t afford a week-long annual holiday, according to a Eurostat report published yesterday.

Of the 27 member states, only Cyprus is in a better position than Malta with regard to car ownership, with just one per cent unable to afford a personal car, whereas Romania has the highest percentage of the population which cannot afford it, as the figure stands at 49 per cent.

On the other hand Malta closely tails Romania and Hungary in terms of the percentage of the population which is unable to afford a week-long annual holiday, according to the report.

The country with the highest percentage unable to afford a week-long holiday is again Romania, with figures revealing that 76 per cent are unable to afford this, followed by 67 per cent of Hungarians. Denmark has the lowest percentage, which stands at just 10 per cent.

The report for 2008, by the EU statistical office Eurostat, focuses on at-risk-of-poverty rates, outlines which countries have the highest and the lowest rates, as well as which are hardest hit by material deprivation.

Material deprivation is defined as the inability to afford at least three of nine particular items, which include the ability to keep a home adequately warm, a meal including chicken, meat, fish or a vegetarian equivalent, as well as possession of a telephone and personal car, among others.

The estimate of the Maltese material deprivation rate is 13 per cent, which doesn’t put Malta at the higher end of material deprivation, although it is not at the lower end. The average for the 27 member states for 2008 was 17 per cent.

When it comes to keeping their homes warm, the Maltese people do not do too badly, with just nine per cent unable to keep a cosy home.

Portugal and Bulgaria have the biggest problem in this area, with 35 per cent of Portuguese and 34 per cent of Bulgarians unable to do so.

When it comes to a meal including chicken, meat, fish or a vegetarian equivalent once every two days, only 10 per cent of the Maltese are unable to afford this, which hovers somewhere around the EU average of nine per cent.

In terms of risk of poverty, Malta is on a par with Belgium and Germany, with 15 per cent of the population living at risk of poverty. This figure is also two per cent below the average EU rate of 17 per cent, according to the report.

The average for the 27 member states has remained pretty stable, varying between 16 and 17 per cent since 2005, according to the report.

The report reveals that Latvia is the member state with the highest at-risk-of-poverty rate, which stands at 26 per cent, closely followed by Romania, with 23 per cent of the population at risk.

The lowest at-risk-of-poverty rates, on the other hand, are found in the Czech Republic, with a mere nine per cent of the population at risk. The rates for the Netherlands and Slovakia both stand at 11 per cent.

It seems that children and elderly people have a higher risk-of-poverty, in most cases, and Malta is no exception. 20 per cent of Maltese children are at risk of poverty, and 22 per cent of those aged over 65, but on the other hand it is 15 per cent of the total population.

Employment makes a huge difference to the statistics, with only five per cent of those employed living at risk of poverty in Malta. On a European level, the figure stands at eight per cent, but it is still considerably lower.

This information coincides with the opening of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, organised by the European Commission and the Spanish Presidency of the EU.