LISBON, Nov. 26 (Xinhua) -- The risk of poverty rate in Portugal dropped 0.1 percentage point from 2017 to 17.2 percent in 2018, but there are still about 2.2 million people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, according to data released on Tuesday by Portuguese National Institute of Statistics (INE).

The data is based on the 2019 Survey on Living and Income Conditions of the previous year's income.

The risk of poverty rate in 2018 corresponded to the proportion of inhabitants with net monetary income of less than 6,014 euros per year, equivalent to 501 euros per month.

The reduction in the risk of poverty can be seen among children and young people, from 19 percent in 2017 to 18.5 percent in 2018, and also in the elderly population from 17.7 percent to 17.3 percent.

"Despite the reduction in the risk of child poverty, in 2018 the presence of children in a household was still associated with an increased risk of poverty, especially for households with at least one dependent child (33.9 percent) and those consisting of two adults with three or more dependent children (30.2 percent)," said INE.

In 2018, the risk of poverty for women also dropped by 0.1 percentage point from 2017 to 17.8 percent, while the risk for men remained at 16.6 percent.

In the employed population, the risk of poverty increased, standing at 10.8 percent in 2018, 1.1 percentage point higher than in the previous year.

"Although the unemployed population continues to decline, the increase in the relative poverty line in 2018 was reflected in a further increase in the risk of poverty" for the population from 45.7 percent in 2017 to 47.5 percent in 2018, INE said.

The indicator combining conditions of risk of poverty, severe material deprivation and very low "per capita" labor intensity revealed that around 2.2 million people are at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2019, or 21.6 percent of the population, it added. Enditem

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