Post by pigeonpie on Nov 13, 2008 19:41:33 GMT
One in five people on island now classified as being poor
Whilst more pleas for help were received in the first six months of this year than in the whole of 2007, donations to Caritas Menorca dropped by 62%
Christine M. Watterson Maó
Some 18.7% of Menorcan residents live below the poverty line, i.e. one in every five people (around 16,000 in total) exists on less than 6,000 euros per year (60% of the average income nationwide).
The number of families asking for help from organisations such as Caritas has increased dramatically in the last few months as a result of the crisis which is hitting the more vulnerable sectors of society the hardest. More and more people are approaching the charitable organisation for the first time because the head of the family is out of work and can not claim unemployment benefit, or lacks the funds to pay the mortgage or rent, or simply needs help to buy basic necessities such as food; cases which show that the economic boom of recent years has not resulted in a reduction in the level of poverty.
Although the statistics produced by Caritas are similar to those in the other Balearic Islands and are below the national average of 19.9%, the seasonal character of the Menorcan economy results in many people being “temporarily poor”.
Read more on this article
Whilst more pleas for help were received in the first six months of this year than in the whole of 2007, donations to Caritas Menorca dropped by 62%
Christine M. Watterson Maó
Some 18.7% of Menorcan residents live below the poverty line, i.e. one in every five people (around 16,000 in total) exists on less than 6,000 euros per year (60% of the average income nationwide).
The number of families asking for help from organisations such as Caritas has increased dramatically in the last few months as a result of the crisis which is hitting the more vulnerable sectors of society the hardest. More and more people are approaching the charitable organisation for the first time because the head of the family is out of work and can not claim unemployment benefit, or lacks the funds to pay the mortgage or rent, or simply needs help to buy basic necessities such as food; cases which show that the economic boom of recent years has not resulted in a reduction in the level of poverty.
Although the statistics produced by Caritas are similar to those in the other Balearic Islands and are below the national average of 19.9%, the seasonal character of the Menorcan economy results in many people being “temporarily poor”.
Read more on this article
