Last year, 20.6 percent of the Lithuanian population lived under the poverty risk line, even though the figure was down by 2.3 points compared to 2018.
According to the figures released by Statistics Lithuania, around 576,000 people were at risk of poverty, while 215,000 lived below the absolute poverty line in Lithuania last year.
Read more: Despite positive changes, social problems persist in Lithuania – EU Commission
The poverty risk line in Lithuania is defined as disposable income of 379 euros per month for an individual or 797 euros for a household of two adults and two children under 14. The absolute poverty line, meanwhile, is 251 euros of monthly disposable income for an individual or 527 euros for a household.
In 2019, 17.1 percent of the urban population was at risk of poverty, down 1.7 point from a year before. The poverty risk figure in rural areas decreased by 3.4 points and stood at 27.9 percent.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said that the latest figures showing a drop in people living in poverty were “encouraging”. He added, however, that new measures should be taken to further reduce the poverty level in the country.
“The tendencies are encouraging, but we should continue to take new steps focused on the most vulnerable members of the public,” Skvernelis, who is on vacation at the moment, posted on Facebook.
Rimantas Rudzkis, an economist and professor at Vilnius University, believes that the figures reflect shrinking social inequality and is a result of the state’s social policy.
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“It has partly to do with the taxation system and, first of all, state assistance, and growing pensions and pay-outs,” Rudzkis told BNS.
The data showed that people aged over 65 were most exposed to poverty, with 31.6 percent living below the poverty risk line. Among children under 18, the poverty risk level was 22.7 percent and 16.5 percent among those aged 18–64.
All the data refer to the period before the coronavirus pandemic.
Read more: Lithuanian families to receive one-off child benefits as part of pandemic mitigation
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