According to figures published Thursday by the Walloon Institute for Evaluation, Forecasting and Statistics (Iweps), 17.3% of the Walloon population lived, in 2021, in a household whose equivalent net income was below the poverty line. In concrete terms, a little less than one in five Walloons lived that year in a household that did not have a net income of 1,293 euros per month for a single person, and 2,715 euros for a household made up of 2 adults and 2 children under 14 years old.
The at-risk-of-poverty rate in Wallonia, which is lower than the rate observed in Brussels (around 25%), but higher than the Flemish rate (less than 10%), remains relatively stable there, with no major trend seeming to emerge, analyzes the Iweps.
The persistent at-risk-of-poverty rate – which measures the number of people whose equivalised net household income is below the risk of poverty in the reference year, as well as for at least two of the previous three years – is displayed him at 14.8%.
“mostly long-lasting poverty”
“In Wallonia, poverty is therefore very largely long-lasting and rarely temporary: between 8 and 9 poor people out of 10 are in a situation of persistent poverty. We observe a very similar situation in Brussels, whereas in Flanders this persistence concerns only one poor on 2”continues the regional institute.“Compared to other European countries, income inequalities are limited in Wallonia, mainly due to our social model combining generalized and centralized collective bargaining and extensive social security”nuance l’Iweps.
The Gini coefficient, which measures income inequality within a population, thus stands at 0.236, comparable to the results obtained by the Scandinavian countries. “However, the poverty of living conditions is more marked: the Walloon rate of material and social deprivation (14.1%) is higher than the European median; housing with humidity problems, which affects 18.8% of population, are more frequent than in many European countries and a significant part of the population is excluded from employment”underlines the institute.
According to the latter, 17% of the Walloon population lives in a household with very low work intensity, while their household includes at least one person of working age.
Iweps also focused on the populations most at risk of poverty. Unsurprisingly, he identified tenants, who often combine the difficulties since they have a lower income, live more frequently in damp housing and have to spend more for housing with a median rent reaching 529 euros. The difficulties of single-parent families are also pinpointed, the majority of them not having enough savings available to meet an unforeseen expense of 1,100 euros.
Finally, poverty also particularly affects children. More than one in five live in a household below the poverty line and nearly 12% of them cannot afford to replace their worn out clothes. On the other hand, the proportion of people aged 65 and over who have to deprive themselves is much lower, a large proportion of them being homeowners without a mortgage loan, which allows them to maintain an adequate standard of living, believes the institute.
