Republic of Cyprus Second Voluntary National Report - Sustainable development goals

80 NARRATIVE Income inequality in Cyprus decreased during the period of 2014-2018, reaching the 2008 level again, after increasing in the years running up to the financial crisis of 2011-2013. The pandemic is anticipated to exacerbate income inequality in Cyprus; the Government has already taken drastic measures to mitigate this by taking relevant actions including wage and social protection policies and the enforcement of the Equality Law. Cyprus has been greatly impacted by the latest migrant crisis in the Middle East, and in collaboration with the EU, and under the AMIF funds, has implemented projects to handle the crisis. ANALYSIS The 2008 worldwide economic and financial crisis, along with the Cyprus deposit haircut in 2013, had, as expected, a negative impact on the country’s economy. However, Cyprus is ranking 15th among EU member states in regard to the purchasing power adjusted GDP per capita and 11th in adjusted gross disposable income of households per capita (see Figure 26). It is important to note that both indicators follow a U-shaped trend, which reflects the crisis period (2010-2014), and the recovery period (2014-2019). Similarly, Cyprus ranks close to the middle among EU member states with respect to inequalities within the country (see Figure 27). In particular, Cyprus ranks 15th in the income distribution indicator, which is the ratio of total income received by the 20% of the population with the highest income to that received by the 20% of the population with the lowest income (4.6% relative to 5% in the EU). Additionally, it is 16th in the income share of the bottom 40% of the population (21.5% relative to 21.4% in the EU). The observed trend suggests an improvement for both indicators from 2010 to 2019. A positive note concerning the inequality within the country is the 4th position held by Cyprus in the relative median at-risk-of-poverty gap. The value of the indicator in Cyprus is 16% (stable from 2010-2019), while the EU average is 24.5%. Cyprus, as a border country of the EU, has the highest number of first-time asylum applications. In particular, for 2019 Cyprus had 14,394 applications per million inhabitants, while the EU average for the same year was 1,411. Concerning the three indicators for social inclusion of non- EU citizens, it is observed that they are poorer than Cypriot citizens, even though non-EU citizens in Cyprus performed better than in most EU countries, reflecting the support efforts by Cyprus. Specifically, Cyprus is placed 11th in the percentage of non-EU early leavers from education and training (25.7% relative to 26.9% in the EU), 13 th in the percentage of young people neither in employment nor in education and training (22.1% relative to 24.2% in the EU) and 11th in the employment rate (68.9% relative to 60% in the EU). The comparison between Cypriots and non-EU citizens is reflected in Figure 28. 80 85 90 95 100 105 97.0 91.0 84.0 81.0 83.0 88.0 89.0 91.0 90.0 102.0 99.0 95.0 90.0 86.0 82.0 82.0 86.0 87.0 89.0 89.0 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 Purchasing Power Adjusted Gdp per Capita Adjusted Gross Disposable Income of Households per Capita Figure 26.: Inequalities Between Countries Income quintile share ratio 3.8 4.0 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8 5.0 5.2 Cyprus 2018 Cyprus 2019 EU 2019 4.3 4.6 5.0 Figure 27.: Inequalities within countries Cyprus 2019 Cyprus Citizen Non-EU Citizen 4.90 8.90 25.70 26.90 % 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 EU 2019 Figure 28.: Migration and Social Inclusion