This Poverty Watch Report provides an overview of poverty and social exclusion in Austria with a special focus on the deterioration of welfare and the effects of inflation and rising prices on people experiencing poverty and low-income earners respectively.
201 000 people in Austria (2.3% of the total population) live in poverty and social exclusion (situation in 2022): they live in ‘severe material deprivation’, and in addition to a low income they also face exclusion in key areas of life (e.g. education or housing). One in four people experiencing poverty are children. One in three people in poverty are unable to break out of the cycle of poverty and social exclusion. Half of all people living in poverty have been in this situation for more than a year.
The report states that the risk of not being protected by social security has increased and will continue to increase, given the economic crisis. Poverty can therefore affect everyone. The income of more than 1.3 million people (14.8%) is below the poverty line.
It is necessary to take effective and sustainable measures towards people at risk of poverty due to high housing costs, people affected by the reduction in social assistance, children whose life chances are at risk, the precarious situation of the unemployed, the increasing number of working poor, …
