Low-income households
International comparisons
Young people in New Zealand are less likely than those in European Union countries to live in low-income households.
The Eurostat database includes a measure of the proportion of young people aged 16 to 24 “at risk of poverty”, a measure roughly consistent with that in use in the New Zealand regional data presented on the "Regional differences" tab above.
The mean proportion of young people aged 16 to 24 living in poverty across 25 European Union countries in 2004 was 21 percent, with a range of 13 percent (Austria) to 27 percent (Denmark). This compares to a New Zealand measure (for ages 15 to 24 in 2006) of 17.5 percent, suggesting that there is a smaller proportion of young people in New Zealand living in low-income households than is the case across the European Union.
Notes
1. “At risk of poverty” is defined here by Eurostat as living in a household that has less than 60% of the median equivalised household income.
