Figures are available

Poverty in the province: better, but still bad

Although the number of people at risk of poverty and exclusion in Vorarlberg has decreased, the situation of those affected by absolute poverty has actually worsened.

In recent years, Vorarlberg has always ranked extremely poorly in terms of the number of people at risk of poverty compared to the other federal states, with only Vienna having a higher risk of poverty, the Poverty Conference reported on Wednesday. In 2019/2020, 18.9 percent of the population in Vorarlberg, or 73,000 people, were at risk of poverty and 23.5 percent were at risk of poverty or exclusion.

There are now signs of an improvement here: since this peak, the pure risk of poverty has fallen continuously to 17%, while the risk of poverty and exclusion has fallen even more significantly to 20%. This puts Vorarlberg at roughly the same level as in 2013/2014.

But where does this trend reversal come from? Only income is used to calculate the poverty figures. Expenditure, which has risen massively in the past two years due to inflation, is not taken into account.

It is hard to see why people at the very bottom of the income scale should be excluded from the improvements achieved.

Michael Diettrich, Sprecher der Armutskonferenz Vorarlberg

Housing benefit increased
In fact, there have been increases in income, namely in the bottom quarter of the population. The maximum income in this segment was always below the Austrian average until 2022/23, but is now slightly above it. The Poverty Conference attributes this to the increases in Vorarlberg's housing benefit in 2022 and 2023. The heating cost subsidy was also increased.

Help for the bottom ten percent
However, this generally welcome development has one major flaw: the incomes of the bottom ten percent have not improved at all, but have actually worsened. It can be assumed that these people are not entitled to receive housing benefit, but are dependent on social assistance. The Poverty Conference is therefore calling on the provincial government to "adjust the housing needs rates in social assistance for all household types to the realities."