Living Conditions in Europe - Poverty and Social Exclusion

In 2023, 21.4 % of the EU population — or some 94.6 million people — were at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

The risk of poverty and social exclusion is not dependent strictly on a household's level of income, as it may also reflect joblessness, low work intensity, working status, or a range of other socio-economic characteristics. To calculate the number or share of people who are at risk of poverty or social exclusion three separate measures are combined and this covers those people who are in at least one of these three situations:

• people who are at risk of poverty, in other words, with an equivalised disposable income that is below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold;
• people who suffer from severe material and social deprivation, in other words, those who cannot afford at least seven out of thirteen deprivation items (six related to the individual and seven related to the household) that are considered by most people to be desirable or even necessary to lead an adequate quality of life;
• people (aged less than 65 years) living in a household with very low work intensity, in other words, those living in households where adults worked for 20 % or less of their total combined work-time potential during the previous twelve months.

In 2023, the risk of poverty or social exclusion was greater across the EU for women (rather than men), young adults (rather than middle-aged or elderly individuals), people with a low level of educational attainment (rather than those with a medium or tertiary level of educational attainment) and, in particular, for unemployed people.

• Over one-fifth of the EU population living in households with dependent children were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023 and the risk of poverty or social exclusion was slightly lower among households without dependent children.
• Working status was unsurprisingly one of the main socio-economic characteristics that impacted upon the risk of poverty or social exclusion. In 2023, while the risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU was 11.3 % for employed persons and 18.7 % for retired people, it was almost two-thirds (66.3 %) for unemployed people and stood at 43.2 % for other inactive people, in other words those who — for a reason other than retirement — were not working or unemployed.
• The risk of poverty or social exclusion varied considerably across the EU Member States. Romania (32.0 %), Bulgaria (30.0 %) and Spain (26.5 %) reported the highest shares of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion in 2023. By contrast, Finland, Slovenia and Czechia presented shares below 16.0 % (EU value being 21.4 %).