Which Groups Have a Greater Risk of Poverty in Spain?

The economic crisis present in Spain since the year 2008 has come accompanied by increases in inequality and in the rates of poverty. The objective of this paper is to determine the most vulnerable social groups in terms of poverty in Spain. The empirical analysis uses the information of the Survey of Living Conditions from 2015, in order to explain poverty catalogued as severe poverty, moderate poverty and without risk of poverty for persons older than 16 years; the explanatory variables are of socio-demographic and labour types, and they represent different groups of the Spanish population. The study applies an ordinal logistic regression model to the data of the Survey of Living Conditions, which will allow us to estimate the probabilities that an over-16 individual is in a situation of moderate poverty, severe poverty, or with no risk of poverty for the different categories analysed. There are a few differences in poverty depending on gender; the categories most affected by the moderate and/or severe poverty are separated and divorced persons, foreigners not from the European Union, persons with low training levels, and those with a temporary contract. We must accept that in the situations of difficulty, there are some groups that, due to their economic conditions, are at a disadvantage to face adverse situations.