More than 11 per cent of Luxembourg's population have incomes below the minimum standard of living
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According to the response of the Luxembourg Ministry of Health, Social Protection and Finance to the parliamentary enquiry, the poverty rate and income structure of the population in Luxembourg have been analysed. The data were collected from two sources: the Social Policy Analysis File for Luxembourg (SPAFIL) and reports on salaries and pensions from employers submitted to the Administration des contributions (ACD).
The main indicator for assessing poverty is the level of a low standard of living. In 2023, this level was defined as an income of less than €28,121 per adult equivalent per year, corresponding to 60 per cent of the median income. For a family of two adults and one child, this threshold was €50,617.8 per year. The calculations take into account the scalability of household expenditure (e.g. children under 14 years of age "weigh" less in the calculations compared to adults).
Poverty statistics
- The overall poverty rate in 2023 was 11.9 per cent of the population.
- Among 16 to 24 year olds, the figure reached 20.7 per cent, indicating the difficulty for young people to support themselves financially.
- Families with one adult and several children face the greatest difficulties: the poverty rate for such households exceeds 64 per cent.
For workers whose income is near the social minimum, the statistics revealed that:
- 25.6 per cent of private sector employees earned close to the minimum wage at least once a year.
- 36 per cent of Class 1 taxpayers (single or not in a formal relationship) have incomes not exceeding €27,591.27 per year.
However, the limitations of the analysis should be considered: the data do not always take into account all household members and other world incomes, which may affect the results.
Despite the high standard of living in Luxembourg, a large part of the population faces difficulties related to poverty. Special attention is needed to support young people and families with children at risk. The introduction of more accurate income accounting methods could help to address these issues and improve social policy.
