2022
The last few years have been extremely difficult for Lithuania and the world. One crisis after another – the COVID-19 pandemic, the migrant crisis, rising energy prices, and the war in Ukraine. The effects of these crises are still being felt, and the outlook for the future is equally dim. Citizens, businesses, and politicians anxiously watch worsening economic trends and geopolitical unrest.
Action needs to be taken that mitigates inflation’s effects and ensures a sustainable, balanced, and lasting reduction in poverty and social security for the population. The acute crises of recent years are hitting the poorest people hardest. Rising energy, food and services prices are forcing the poor to cut back and neglect their basic needs. Anxiety and uncertainty about the future also have psychosocial consequences at a personal and societal level.
2021
According to the Lithuanian Statistics Department, the at risk of poverty risk threshold in 2020 was EUR 430 per month for a single person and EUR 904 for a family of two adults and two children under 14. In 2020, about 585 000 people lived below the poverty threshold. In 2020 the at-risk-of-poverty rate in the country was 20.9%, and it increased by 0.3 percentage points compared to 2019.
Poverty Watch Main Findings
Most Affected Groups
Children
Large families
Single parents with children
People with disabilities
Pensioners
Single people
Unemployed people
Main Priorities
- Legislative process focused on reducing poverty and social exclusion.
- Collection of tax revenues, financing of social security and reduction of inequality.
- Reducing monetary poverty and ensuring basic needs.
- Development of personalized social services.
- Developing accompanied care and other services for young people
- Making services accessible to migrants.
- Enabling the unemployed through the development of labour market integration services.
- Reducing over-indebtedness and providing assistance to those in arrears.
- Reducing energy poverty.
- Focus on electoral manipulation against vulnerable groups
2020
In 2019 about 576 thousand people in Lithuania lived below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold. At-risk-of-poverty rate in 2019 in the country amounted to 20.6 percent and decreased compared to 2018. The reduction of the at-risk-of-poverty rate was mainly a result of the commencement of universal child benefit payment in 2018, increased pension and state-supported income, and other changes in monetary support for deprived people.
Poverty Watch Main Findings
Most affected groups
Children
Large families
Single parents
Single people
People with disabilities
Old-age pensioners
The unemployed
Main priorities
- An action plan to reduce poverty, social exclusion and income inequality based on social rights
- Collection of tax revenue and financing of social security
- Reducing educational inequalities
- Reform of the social services system
- Ensuring the network of available public services and their quality
- Reducing monetary poverty and strengthening the social protection of the citizens
Contact details
Lithuanian National Anti-Poverty Network
(Lithuania)
Tel: +370 6 854 25 38
Fax: +370 5 212 60 45
E-mail: info ( @ ) smtinklas.lt
Website: www.smtinklas.lt