Risk of poverty or social exclusion

Purpose and brief description "EU-SILC" (European Union - Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) is a European survey on income and living conditions and an important tool to map poverty and social exclusion at Belgian and European level. In Belgium, the EU-SILC survey is organised by Statbel. Every year, about 6,000 households (or 11,000 people) are surveyed and followed up for a maximum of four consecutive years. In the SILC survey, social exclusion is regarded as the result of several factors such as income, employment, health and education level. The survey is carried out in Belgium and in the other EU Member States and is coordinated by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. In Belgium, the SILC is organised by Statbel. Population Private households in Belgium Data collection method and sample size CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interview) - CATI (Compter Assisted Telephone Interview). Respons ± 60% (N= ± 6.000 households) Frequency Annually. Timing publication First quarter after survey year Questionaires Silc Questionnaires: Individuals Silc Questionnaires: ménage Definitions Calculation of the monetary poverty risk (AROP) The poverty threshold is set at 60 % of the median disposable income at individual level. It is calculated as follows: 60 % of 22,784 euros per year equals to a threshold of 13,670 euros per year or 1,139 euros per month for a single person. For households, this threshold is not simply multiplied by the number of household members. Considering that household members share costs and expenditures, a factor of 0.5 is applied to a second adult in a household in the calculation of the poverty threshold, and a factor of only 0.3 is applied to children (<14 years). The poverty threshold for a household consisting of two adults and two children is therefore obtained by multiplying the threshold of single people by a factor of 2.1 [(€13,670 *2.1)/12 = €2,392 per month]. This factor of 2.1 is calculated by assigning a weight of 1 to the head of the household, of 0.5 to the second adult of the household and of 0.3 to each child. Households with low work intensity (LWI) These are the households where adults (aged 18 to 59, excluding students) have worked on average less than one fifth of the time during the reference year. Material deprivation (SMD): details of the indicator People considered as "severely materially deprived" are confronted with at least four of the nine following situations: they cannot afford to pay rent or utility bills, to keep their home adequately warm, to face unexpected expenses, to eat meat, fish or a protein equivalent every second day, to go on a one-week holiday away from home, to have a car, a washing machine, a colour TV or a telephone. European poverty indicator: AROPE (At Risk of Poverty or Social Exclusion) This indicator is derived from the three indicators mentioned above (AROP, LWI, SMD). If one or more of the conditions are met, i.e. if the household in which the person lives is characterised by low income and/or low work intensity and/or severe material deprivation, that person is considered at risk of poverty and/or social exclusion (multidimensional poverty). Level of education The level of education is measured using a detailed questionnaire, and the people are then divided into three groups. Low-skilled people are people who list lower secondary education as their highest level of education. Medium-skilled people are people who obtained a diploma of higher secondary education but not of higher education. High-skilled people obtained a diploma of higher education. More definitions... Comments 2013: break in the series for the unemployed 2016 to 2018: figures revised on 12/03/2020 2019: time series break due to a major reform of the survey SILC 2020: Impact of the COVID-19 crisis on SILC 2020 results SILC 2021: From SILC 2021, real property withholding tax will be included in disposable income. Legislation EU-SILC 2004 to 2020 was implemented under a framework regulation, mandatory for all EU Member States: REGULATION (EC) No 1177/2003 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 16 June 2003 concerning Community statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) From SILC 2021 onwards there is the REGULATION (EU) 2019/1700 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL. This framework regulation for integrated European Social Statistics (IESS) and the underlying implementing regulations for EU-SILC constitute the new legal framework. The development of the statistical infrastructure under IESS is supported by European grants. Reports and articles Quality reports Preparation for the revision of EU-SILC : Testing of rolling modules in EU-SILC 2017 Poverty indicators at NUTS-2 level by Small Area Estimation Using registers in BE-SILC to construct income variables Drawing of the SILC 2016 sample: stratification for Brussels with tax quantiles