Risk of poverty or social exclusion

The risk of poverty or social exclusion refers to the population who is either a member of a low income household, has severe material and social deprivation or lives in a household with low work intensity. The so-called AROPE indicator (At Risk of Poverty or Social Exclusion) that measures the risk of poverty or social exclusion is part of the monitoring of the targets of the EU 2030 strategy.

The low income household sub-indicator published by Statistics Finland as part of the indicator for at risk of poverty or social exclusion is based on the internationally comparable income concept (disposable monetary income excl. sales profits). The concept corresponds to the income concept used by Eurostat in the EU-SILC statistics but differs slightly from it as concerns fringe benefits of wages and salaries. They are included in income in the national statistics but not in the EU-SILC except the car benefit. The deviation causes a small difference to the at-risk-of-poverty rate and as a result, to the risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared to the figures published by Eurostat.

The reference period of the indicator for at risk of poverty or social exclusion is the income reference year in Statistics Finland's publications. Of the three components of the indicator, low income and low work intensity refer to the income reference year whereas severe material and social deprivation refers to the data collection year which is the year following the income reference year. On Eurostat's web pages the indicator is published according to the survey year.

Among the components of the indicator for at risk of poverty or social exclusion, Eurostat revised the definitions of severe material and social deprivation and low work intensity in 2021. Statistics Finland's statistics on living conditions release data on those at risk with the new definition starting from the releases for the statistical reference year 2020. Data according to the new definition are available in database tables starting from 2018. Time series data according to the old definition from 2005 to 2019 are available in the table archive.