Taking the Minister for Family Affairs to task on those figures, Corinne Cahen highlighted that the development of the poverty line is based on figures from 2017. She pointed out that the Chamber of Employees' study did not take recent measures into consideration, namely the parental leave reform, the reform on the social inclusion income (which was renamed REVIS), and further changes in benefits.
In summary, the minister explained, these are all measures designed to reduce poverty and push the poverty line in Luxembourg further back. She reminded the MP that the studies on poverty were based on 2017 figures and claimed that more recent figures would show a more improved result, thanks to the measures.
Other efforts by the government include measures to make housing more affordable and reforming the fiscal system to promote individual taxation.
Generally, individuals earning less than 60% of the median income are considered to be below the poverty line. The median income figure is calculated by ranking individuals from the lowest to the highest salaries and then dividing the population in two groups equal in number. The median income corresponds to the salary where the division into groups occurs. The minister highlighted that the poverty line is a monetary concept and considered as a risk of poverty, rather than confirmed poverty.
She pointed out other indicators such as the reference budget, which provides a more global look at the situation, and the 'severe material deprivation rate'. According to Eurostat, the latter rate lays at 1.2% in Luxembourg, which is one of the lowest in the EU and the world. However, again, Eurostat relies on the 2017 figures.
