MONET 2030: Poverty rate

SDG 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Goal description

«[…] Poverty is more than the lack of income and resources to ensure a sustainable livelihood. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion as well as the lack of participation in decision-making. Economic growth must be inclusive to provide sustainable jobs and promote equality. »

Swiss target 1.2: The segment of the population in Switzerland living below the national poverty line is reduced.

Significance of the indicator
The indicator shows the percentage of people living below the poverty threshold. The threshold is defined on the basis of a social existence minimum that should enable individuals to acquire the goods and services necessary to an integrated social life. A reduction in the poverty rate is a major concern in sustainable development.

Help for interpretation
It is an income-based poverty indicator. The measure of poverty can be biased, in particular amongst older people, as wealth is not taken into account.

International comparability
The indicators of income poverty published by Eurostat and the OECD are based on the concept of relative poverty and cannot be compared with this indicator (based on the absolute concept).

Synthesis

Comments: Due to a break in the time series, the calculations are based on data from 2014 onwards.

By sex

According to the social justice and equality of opportunity principles, gender equality is a key component of sustainable development. For this reason this indicator is also presented with a distinction made between men and women.

This indicator shows the percentage of poor people in the total population living in private households (poverty rate). A person is considered poor if they live in a household whose disposable income (excl. imputed rent) is below the poverty threshold (absolute concept). In 2021, the poverty threshold was on average CHF 2289 per month for a single person household and CHF 3989 per month for a household with two adults and two children under the age of 14. The income data in the SILC 2021 survey relates to the year 2020, i.e. during the Covid-19 pandemic. As the poverty rate is calculated by means of a population sample, it is subject to a certain margin of error. A confidence interval of 95% is calculated for these data.

Poverty

Swiss target 1.2: The segment of the population in Switzerland living below the national poverty line is reduced.

International target 1.2: By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.