The Inter-federal Poverty Barometer
The main goal of this instrument is to give more publicity to the phenomenon of poverty in Belgium. The Poverty Barometer shows that poverty is widespread and it also clarifies a few of its essential characteristics. In our country, one in seven citizens lives under the poverty threshold. Poverty is often characterised as a lack of sufficient income. In reality it is much more than a mere lack of money and it involves all aspects of the existence of our poorest citizens. As a result of their poverty, fundamental rights and basic needs like health care, work, education, housing, etc. are often beyond their reach. “A better understanding of poverty for better ways to combat it”, is one of my priorities. As the Secretary of State for Poverty Reduction I want to hand the government a tool to intensify the fight against poverty. Therefore a Poverty Barometer showing the most recent poverty figures will be published every year. Finally I insist on extending my gratitude to everyone who, either from close by or more at a distance, has contributed to the realisation of this instrument and I’d like to call to mind that poverty reduction is something we “have to do together”.