A/HRC/34/51/Add.2 relevant to the housing sector, in particular in analyses of current and future housing needs and of housing policies, subsidies and other measures aimed at addressing trends towards housing exclusion. 7. With regard to income distribution, Portugal is also one of the most unequal countries in Europe. 3 According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the bottom 10 per cent of the population accounts for only 2.4 per cent of the share of total income, the bottom 20 per cent accounts for only 6.9 per cent, while the top 20 per cent accounts for 41.5 per cent. 4 8. The economic crisis, in Portugal has led to the downsizing of the public sector, high unemployment rates, a reduction in salaries, higher taxes, and more housing exclusion and homelessness. Unemployment rates have risen from 9.4 per cent in 2009 to 11.1 per cent in 2016, while youth unemployment (persons 15 to 24 years of age) more than twice as high, running at 20 per cent in 2009and almost three times as high (28 per cent) in 2016. 5 Despite a slight decrease in the past two years, unemployment remains dramatically high. 6 9. The national poverty rate increased from approximately 18 per cent in 2009 to over 24 per cent by 2012. According to Eurostat data, the rate in 2015 stood at 19.5 per cent; while more than 11 per cent of the total population was at risk of poverty. The unemployed are clearly those affected by the greatest incidence of poverty. More than 40 per cent of persons unemployed lived below the 60 per cent of median income poverty line in 2012. 7 Employment does not necessarily protect against poverty, however; in 2015, 10.9 per cent of the working population was living below the poverty line. 8 Of those aged 17 or younger under, approximately 22 per cent lived below the poverty line. 10. With regard to housing, Portugal ranks 22nd of 28 countries in the European Housing Exclusion Index 2016, which considers, inter alia, five crucial indicators: housing cost overburden (spending more than 40 per cent of disposable income on housing); arrears on mortgage or rent payments; overcrowding; inability to keep home warm; and severe housing deprivation.9 B. Austerity measures 11. To address the economic crisis of the early 2000s, the Government of Portugal took a number of austerity measures that have had a significant impact on the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing and other socioeconomic rights. As part of a memorandum of understanding signed by the Government on 17 May 2011 with the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission and that formally ended in 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 4 Jens Arnold and Carlos Farinha Rodrigues, Reducing Inequality and Poverty in Portugal, Economics Department Working Papers No. 1258, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), p. 5. OECD, Inequality remains high in the face of weak recovery, November 2016, table 1. Key indicators. Instituto Nacional de Estadística – Statistics Portugal (INE), Monthly Employment and Unemployment Estimates, 4th Quarter of 2009, Destaque press release, 7 February 2010. INE, Portugal, Monthly Employment and Unemployment Estimates, November 2016, Destaque press release, 6 January 2017. Arnold and Rodrigues, “Reducing Inequality and Poverty” (see footnote 3), p. 11. Ibid. See FEANTSA and Fondation Abbé Pierre, An Overview of European Housing Exclusion in Europe, Index 2016, 17 September 2016.