That is proven by the reference budgets printed by debt counseling companies on Monday. Even with out proudly owning a automotive, {couples} with two kids aged 7 and 14 have whole month-to-month bills of 4,433 euros, whereas single dad and mom have 3,704 euros.
“Will increase are alarming”
In comparison with 2023, month-to-month prices have elevated by a number of hundred euros. The reference price range for a family with one mother or father and two kids is 300 euros greater than final yr. Heating costs have risen notably sharply, by 53 %. Meals has develop into 11 % costlier and spending on social and cultural participation by 10 %. Rental prices have additionally elevated considerably, particularly by 8 %.
“The rise in the price of residing is alarming,” defined Johanna Steurer, undertaking supervisor for reference budgets at ASB Schuldnerberatungen GmbH, the umbrella group for state-approved debt counseling in Austria. Increasingly individuals are now not in a position to sustain financially. That is additionally proven by new figures on over-indebtedness, “the place excessive residing prices have gotten an more and more necessary purpose for over-indebtedness,” mentioned Steurer. Meals is now not inexpensive for a lot of.
Single dad and mom and enormous households extra continuously affected by poverty
The reference budgets of the debt counseling companies are calculated yearly and present how a lot cash is required for several types of households to have the ability to afford a good life with a minimal of social and cultural participation. In response to the ASB, they’re the one survey in Austria that calculates how a lot is required for a easy however good life on the expenditure facet. For the primary time, there are additionally reference budgets for {couples} with 4 kids and households with one mother or father with three and 4 kids. Households with just one mother or father and households with three or extra kids are notably affected by poverty.
The reference price range doesn’t take regional variations into consideration and assumes a rental condo. Prices for a automotive are additionally not included within the reference price range. In response to the ASB, the common month-to-month whole value for a automotive could be just below 900 euros.
The debt counseling companies are demanding that the reference budgets be used as an official measure of poverty alongside the poverty threat threshold and likewise taken into consideration within the subsistence stage. It’s because the calculation of the poverty threat threshold is predicated on two-year-old revenue knowledge (EU-SILC). In response to the official definition, anybody who has to make do with lower than 60 % of the median revenue of the overall inhabitants is taken into account to be vulnerable to poverty. For single dad and mom with two kids and month-to-month family prices of three,704 euros in line with the reference price range, the poverty threat threshold is 2,830 euros, which is 874 euros under the ASB reference price range.
