80% of asylum seekers living in poverty

A staggering 80 per cent of asylum seekers surveyed by the Jesuit Refugee Service and Aditus Foundation are currently living at risk of poverty, more than five times the rate in the general population. A new study, which will be launched today, also found that asylum seekers' households earn €200 less a month on average than the €680 respondents said they would need to cover their most basic needs. Asylum seekers who have been in Malta for a longer period of time are no less likely than new arrivals to be at risk of poverty. Struggling to survive: an investigation into the risk of poverty among asylum seekers in Malta is based on research carried out by the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) and Aditus in 72 migrant households, comprising 125 individuals, including 33 children. Julian Caruana, the author of the report, told the Times of Malta the research shines a light on the risk of poverty often overlooked by official figures such as Eurostat, which groups asylum seekers with non-EU nationals living or working here. "In Malta, the discrepancy between non-EU migrants and Maltese people is very low, which has been taken as an indication that migrants in Malta are very well off," Dr...

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