“Although the need for help has increased a lot recently, there are still several times more people who need help. In Lithuania, every fifth inhabitant of the country is at risk of poverty, and according to statistics, even every tenth person cannot afford to eat meat, fish or similar vegetarian food at least every other day. That need remains very high,” Agata Gluchovska, analyst of the National Network of Poverty Reduction Organizations, told LRT radio on Friday.
“It is important to understand that as the cold season approaches, the number of requests for food assistance is likely to increase even more with the corresponding increase in utility costs,” she said.
According to the non-governmental organization “Maisto bankas”, the ranks of those requesting assistance have grown significantly over the past year, and this month 210,000 people will receive food rations. population – 60 thousand more than at the same time last year.
The organization also claims that the flow of beneficiaries may increase once the heating season begins.
Martynas Šiurkus, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Social Security and Labour, says that the number of beneficiaries also depends on the policies applied by the municipalities.
“It should not be necessary to directly compare those entitled to receive food packages and those in poverty, because those indicators depend on what limits are applied by the municipalities themselves to receive a support package through food means. That limit is very variable – some municipalities apply 1.5 average supported income (VRP) per person, others – up to 3 VRP per person”, said M. Šiurkus.
According to him, given these figures, a family with two or three children whose parents earn 1,200 gross before tax can still receive food parcel support.
“Those numbers increasing all the time depends on what those limits are. The absolute majority of municipalities apply much higher limits as an exception,” the vice-minister emphasized.
According to him, judging by other indicators, these are the recipients of social benefits, despite the fact that the amounts of VRP are growing, the number of those receiving them is not increasing significantly.
“This means that comparing 2022 with 2023, roughly only 8 percent the number of those people increased, even though the inflation rates were very high. But for those receiving cash benefits, if we take the total and divide it by those receiving social benefits, it has increased by almost 40 percent. It means that those people who experience and live the most in poverty, that support reaches them in one form or another,” said M. Šiurkus.
According to the vice-minister, when the heating season begins, single persons whose income is less than 470 euros per month do not pay anything for heating, as they are entitled to 100% compensation.
According to A. Gluchovska, the inflation of the last years significantly reduced the income of people experiencing poverty and limited their consumption, they had to neglect their essential needs.
The organization’s research and direct communication with people experiencing poverty showed that during the coldest winter months, people experiencing poverty were forced to choose whether to pay utility and other taxes or save for food, which has an extremely negative effect on the health of individuals, said the non-governmental woman.
Daiva Skučienė, head of the Department of Social Policy at Vilnius University, told LRT radio that poverty is entrenched in certain groups in Lithuania, the amounts used for social benefits are increasing, but not enough, compared to how the average wage is growing, so the lag is obvious.
According to the data of the State Data Agency, when assessing the income of the population in 2022, the highest level of risk of poverty remains in the age group of people aged 65 and older and reaches 36.5 percent.
Due to extremely high inflation, the absolute poverty line grew extremely fast this year. Compared to 2022, it has increased by almost 33 percent. In the past, the absolute poverty line grew by only 2-3 percent annually.
The experimental statistics of the State Data Agency showed that, assessing the income of the country’s population in 2022, the poverty risk level should reach about 19.9 percent this year. – about one percentage point less than in previous years. As previously announced by SADM, this was influenced by the increase in pensions and the application of measures to mitigate the consequences of inflation for the most vulnerable groups.
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2024-09-27 09:31:29
