Demand For Municipal Income Support Grew In 2013 - 8,000 Recipient Households Make 4% Of Population

8,000 Recipient Households Make 4% Of Population

Statistics Iceland (SI) report a 4% increase in the number of households receiving municipal income support from 2012 to 2013.

According to the report, published last Thursday, a total of 8,042 households, consisting of 13,130 individuals or 4% of the country’s population, received municipal income support in 2013. The figure includes 4,190 children. The largest groups of recipients were, according to SI’s report summary, single men without children and single women with, at 45.5% and 26% respectively.

Legislation defines income support on the municipal level as the welfare system’s ‘last resort’. It is provided to those households with low or no income, that verifiably do not meet the requirements for state-level welfare measures, such as unemployment benefits. In 2013, around 45% of the recipients were unemployed. The standard amount provided to an individual with no income averaged at ISK 152,841.

From 2003 to 2007, the number of recipient households decreased by a total 32%. 2007 saw the trend reverse and the number of recipients has been growing steadily since.