Estonia has the highest rate of single mothers living in poverty in Europe

Social welfare policy experts, who recently convened in Brussels, noted that according to statistics, 17% of women in the EU live in poverty, writes LETA/Eesti Päevaleht. In terms of single parents’ poverty, Estonia’s indicators are among the worst in Europe.If one were to take into account personal income, not household income, 36% of women live in poverty. In terms of single parents’ poverty, Estonia’s indicators are among the worst in Europe: data collected a few years ago demonstrate that more than 50% of single mothers lived at risk of poverty and slightly more than 40% of single fathers were in the same position. The average poverty-risk indicator in Europe, at the same time, was 27% for single mothers and approximately 23% for single fathers. MP Helmen Kütt who has been working as a social worker for years, also stated that when compiling budgets in Estonia, women’s circumstances are not taken into account, nor is the budgets’ impact on women and their children. “Riigikogu and local governments are shaped according to the image of men, while poverty has the image of a woman,” she said. “We also cut back on a number of benefits that are important for single mothers during the difficult times, for example abolishing the school-bag benefits,” she pointed out.