Income and taxes: Income mobility 2000-2018
Persistent low income common among foreign born persons
Statistical news from Statistics Sweden 2020-04-23 9.30
Among Sweden’s population in 2018, nearly 15 percent were at risk of poverty. Two thirds of those persons, nearly 10 percent of the population, were at persistent risk of poverty. This means that they were at risk of poverty in 2018 and during at least two of the three preceding years. The percentage of persons at persistent risk of poverty has remained stable in recent years.
The percentage of persons who were at persistent risk of poverty varies widely among different groups. One in five foreign born persons were at persistent risk of poverty, while among Swedish born persons, this proportion was seven percent.
Among foreign born persons, there are also large differences between countries of birth. Among persons born in Africa, one in three persons was at persistent risk of poverty and among persons born in Asia, the corresponding figure was one in four persons. Among persons born in Europe, this percentage was around 15 percent. Differences between persons born in a Nordic country and persons born in the rest of Europe are minor.
Persistent risk of poverty is less common among foreign born persons who have lived in Sweden for a long time compared with persons who have lived in Sweden a shorter period of time. Among persons who have lived in Sweden for more than 20 years and are born in Africa or Asia, 18 percent were at persistent low income.
Among foreign born children living in Sweden, nearly 40 percent were at persistent risk of poverty, compared with 6 percent among children born in Sweden with two Swedish born parents.
Gainfully employed persons are seldom at persistent risk of poverty; the proportion in this group was two percent, while one in four persons not gainfully employed, such as students, unemployed persons and ill persons, were at persistent risk of poverty.
Täby, Danderyd and Vaxholm were the municipalities with the lowest percentage of persons at persistent risk of poverty, around 3 percent. In approximately 40 out of Sweden’s 290 municipalities, the percentage of persons at persistent risk of poverty was larger than 14 percent.
Definitions and explanations
Persons at persistent risk of poverty refers to persons living in a household where the equivalised disposable income is below 60 percent of the national median during the reference year and during at least two out of the preceding three years. This is the same definition that Eurostat uses to calculate the persistent at-risk-of-poverty rate.
Next publishing will be
Preliminary income statistics for 2019 will be published on 25 September 2020.
Statistical Database
More information is available in the Statistical Database
Feel free to use the facts from this statistical news but remember to state Source: Statistics Sweden.