Many elderly in Great Britain live in poverty

August 10th 2009  

Great Britain is one of the wealthiest countries in the European Union, but almost two million senior citizens live below the poverty line. Almost one fifth regularly have to skip meals, because they cannot afford them.

According to statements from Eurostat, which have just been published, Great Britain and Lithuania split a forth place among the 27 Member States, where most senior citizens are living of an income that is less than 60 per cent of the average living standards.

In Great Britain 30 per cent of the senior citizens belong to this group of people, where as in Denmark only 18 per cent belong to this group. This is much better than in countries such as Ireland, Italy and Finland, but much worse than Germany, Iceland and The Nederland. The average is 19 per cent in the EU.

The country where most senior citizens live of an income above 60 per cent of the average living costs is the Czech Republic. Only 5 per cent has less than this amount of money.

It is shameful

The British interest group ‘Help The Aged’ estimates that at least 1,7 million British senior citizens live in outright poverty. The organisation’s own research shows that every fifth senior citizen in Great Britain regularly skips a meal in order to make ends meet.

The newest research from ‘Help The Aged’ shows that the number of senior citizens, who are living in poverty, has gone up between 2005 and 2006. It is the first time in 10 years that this number is increasing.

A recent report from a committee in the British Parliament shows that the main reason as to why the senior citizens live in poverty is caused by the complicated system of subventions and deductions. Because the many elderly cannot figure out the rules and regulations, millions of pounds in subventions have never been spent on the senior citizens, who really need them.

This is an edited extract from an article published in Politiken, 03.08.2009.