Sunday, August 09, 2015

Elderly and the poverty line

This is a chart for the benefit of a commentor on the last post.


This shows that a majority of 65+ New Zealanders live below the median equivalised disposable household median income BHC (before housing costs) and a sizable chunk (29%) live below the 60% threshold or 'in poverty'( though their hardship is often alleviated by lower housing costs.)

Further from the Household Incomes Report:


Summary of findings regarding the sources of income for older New Zealanders

·         The great majority of older New Zealanders (aged 66+)  are very dependent on NZS and other government transfers for their income 
-     40% have virtually no other income source
-     the next 20% have on average around 80% of their income from NZS and other government transfers
-     this degree of dependence has not changed greatly in the last two decades







2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Given the usual rate of elderly being "in poverty" is about 5% I think they must be using the 50% rate. Either that or the Nat Super amount must sometimes float above the 60% mark.

Anonymous said...

Having considered the chart it suggests that the elderly are mainly in the 5th decile, with some concentration in the 4th and some concentration in the 6th. It doesn't suggest that many are in the deciles 1 to 3 or 8 to 10.