Combining those covered by the AROP measure with those with severe material deprivation (and the – less relevant for those aged 65+ – ‘living in a household with a very low work intensity’ indicator) gives us those people at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE). This is the measure used since 2010 to monitor progress in fighting poverty and social exclusion under the Europe 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. For the EU-27 population of those aged 65+, the AROPE rate was 24.4% in 2007 falling to 17.7% in 2014 (for the euro-area 19 the equivalent figures are 21.5% and 16.2%). For the EU-28, the 2014 AROPE rate for those aged 65 and over is 17.8%. Males had a lower AROPE rate than females both in 2007 (20.6% vs. 27.3%) and in 2014 (14.5% vs. 20.1%). Figure 2 shows the situation for those people aged 65+ in the individual Member States in 2007 and 2014. Most saw improvements, some quite dramatic (six countries saw double digit p.p. improvements), though Sweden is an outlier with a worsening of its AROPE rate of 6.1 p.p.
People below age 65 had AROPE rates of 24.4% in 2007 increasing to 25.9% in 2014. So in 2014 people aged 65+, having seen falls in their AROPE rates, have an 8.2 p.p. lower AROPE rate than that of people aged under 65 (For EU-27. For EU-28 it is 8.1 p.p. lower).
Breaking down the age 65+ into those aged 65 to 74 and those aged 75+, we see higher AROPE rates for those aged 75 and over. The latest (2014) data show an AROPE rate of 19.1% for those aged 75+ in the EU-28, compared to 16.6 for the 65-74 age group. Those aged 75+ are more likely to be living in a single household and to be women, two factors which correlate with higher AROPE rates (see gender aspects box). However there has been a narrowing of the gap from 2007 to 2014, with AROPE rates (EU-27) falling by 8.3 p.p. (from 27.3% in 2007 to 19.0% in 2014) for those aged 75+ compared to 5.8 p.p. falls for the 65-74 age group (from 22.3% to 16.5%).
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