The number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the European Union increased by 729 thousand persons since the previous year. In total, the number of people at risk of poverty amounted to 94.5 million persons in 2023. This trend was preceded by a declining number of people at risk of poverty.People at risk of poverty or social exclusion, income distribution and monetary poverty, living conditions and material deprivation is the main indicator to monitor the EU 2030 target on poverty and social exclusion and was the headline indicator to monitor the EU 2020 Strategy poverty target.Find more key insights for the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in countries like Czechia, France, and Poland.

European Union - At Risk of Poverty rate: Males was 15.50% in December of 2024, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for European Union - At Risk of Poverty rate: Males - last updated from the EUROSTAT on July of 2025. Historically, European Union - At Risk of Poverty rate: Males reached a record high of 17.00% in December of 2015 and a record low of 15.40% in December of 2023.

Portugal, Spain and Bulgaria are the countries most at risk of energy poverty in the European Union. As of 2023, over ********* of households in each country were unable to adequately heat their homes. They were followed Lithuania, where another ** percent of households struggled to keep their houses warm.

European Union - At Risk of Poverty rate of elderly people: Owner was 15.20% in December of 2024, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for European Union - At Risk of Poverty rate of elderly people: Owner - last updated from the EUROSTAT on July of 2025. Historically, European Union - At Risk of Poverty rate of elderly people: Owner reached a record high of 15.90% in December of 2020 and a record low of 12.10% in December of 2014.

In 2023, the percentage of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the European Union was recorded at **** percent, showing a slight decrease from the previous year. ******************** continue to exhibit significant challenges, with ** percent and ** percent of their populations at risk, respectively. In contrast, Czechia and Slovenia maintained lower rates, at ** percent and **** percent.

European Union - At Risk of Poverty rate: From 50 to 64 years was 14.50% in December of 2024, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for European Union - At Risk of Poverty rate: From 50 to 64 years - last updated from the EUROSTAT on June of 2025. Historically, European Union - At Risk of Poverty rate: From 50 to 64 years reached a record high of 16.20% in December of 2015 and a record low of 13.30% in December of 2010.

Out of all OECD countries, Cost Rica had the highest poverty rate as of 2022, at over 20 percent. The country with the second highest poverty rate was the United States, with 18 percent. On the other end of the scale, Czechia had the lowest poverty rate at 6.4 percent, followed by Denmark.

The significance of the OECD

The OECD, or the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, was founded in 1948 and is made up of 38 member countries. It seeks to improve the economic and social well-being of countries and their populations. The OECD looks at issues that impact people’s everyday lives and proposes policies that can help to improve the quality of life.

Poverty in the United States

In 2022, there were nearly 38 million people living below the poverty line in the U.S.. About one fourth of the Native American population lived in poverty in 2022, the most out of any ethnicity. In addition, the rate was higher among young women than young men. It is clear that poverty in the United States is a complex, multi-faceted issue that affects millions of people and is even more complex to solve.

Rates of poverty and persistent poverty in 2017 are included for the UK and EU, including characteristics, measures of material deprivation and well-being.

European Union - In Work at Risk of Poverty Rate: Full-time was 6.90% in December of 2024, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for European Union - In Work at Risk of Poverty Rate: Full-time - last updated from the EUROSTAT on July of 2025. Historically, European Union - In Work at Risk of Poverty Rate: Full-time reached a record high of 8.10% in December of 2016 and a record low of 6.90% in December of 2024.

Table of INEBase Risk of poverty or social exclusion (Europe 2030 goal) and its components by nationality (persons aged 16 and over). Annual. Living Conditions Survey (LCS)

The EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) aim to collect timely and comparable cross-sectional and longitudinal data on income, poverty, social exclusion and living conditions.

The EU-SILC project was launched in 2003 between 6 Member States (Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Luxembourg and Austria) and Norway. The legal basis entered into force in 2004 and now covers all EU countries plus Iceland, Norway and Switzerland.

EU-SILC provides two types of data:

• Cross-sectional data over a given time or a certain time period with variables on income, poverty, social exclusion and other living conditions
• Longitudinal data on individual-level changes over time, observed periodically over a 4-year period.

Information on social exclusion and housing conditions is collected mainly at household level, while labour, education and health information is obtained from individuals aged 16 and over. Income variables at detailed component level are also mainly collected from individuals.

In Austria, approximately 6,000 households are surveyed every year.

The average for 2021 based on 25 countries was 1.5 percent. The highest value was in Romania: 7.1 percent and the lowest value was in Cyprus: 0.1 percent. The indicator is available from 1963 to 2023. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

The relative median at-risk-of-poverty gap is calculated as the difference between the median equivalised total net income of persons below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold and the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, expressed as a percentage of the at-risk-of-poverty threshold (cut-off point: 60% of median equivalised income). The EU aggregate is a population weighted average of individual national figures. In line with decisions of the European Council, the risk-of-poverty rate is measured relative to the situation in each country rather than applying a common threshold to all countries.

Slovakia was the European Union (EU) country with the largest expected increase in poverty due to the Russia-Ukraine war that began in February 2022. According to the estimates, the share of the Slovak population at risk of poverty was estimated to increase by 4.3 percent as a consequence of economic issues caused by the invasion, such as inflation. Estonia was projected the second-highest poverty increase, at 3.7 percent of residents.

Table of INEBase Risk of poverty or social exclusion (Europe 2030 target) and its age and gender components. Annual. National. Living Conditions Survey (LCS)

MIP22 - European at Risk of Poverty Rates. Published by Eurostat. Available under the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0).European at Risk of Poverty Rates...

Abstract

EU-SILC has become the EU reference source for comparative statistics on income distribution and social exclusion at European level, particularly in the context of the "Program of Community action to encourage cooperation between Member States to combat social exclusion" and for producing structural indicators on social cohesion for the annual spring report to the European Council. The first priority is to be given to the delivery of comparable, timely and high quality cross-sectional data.

There are two types of datasets: 1) Cross-sectional data pertaining to fixed time periods, with variables on income, poverty, social exclusion and living conditions. 2) Longitudinal data pertaining to individual-level changes over time, observed periodically - usually over four years.

Longitudinal data is limited to income information and a limited set of critical qualitative, non-monetary variables of deprivation, aimed at identifying the incidence and dynamic processes of persistence of poverty and social exclusion among subgroups in the population. The longitudinal component is also more limited in sample size compared to the primary, cross-sectional component. Furthermore, for any given set of individuals, microlevel changes are followed up only for a limited duration, such as a period of four years.

For both the cross-sectional and longitudinal components, all household and personal data are linkable. Furthermore, modules providing updated information in the field of social exclusion is included starting from 2005.

Social exclusion and housing-condition information is collected at household level. Income at a detailed component level is collected at personal level, with some components included in the "Household" section. Labour, education and health observations only apply to persons 16 and older. EU-SILC was established to provide data on structural indicators of social cohesion (at-risk-of-poverty rate, S80/S20 and gender pay gap) and to provide relevant data for the two 'open methods of coordination' in the field of social inclusion and pensions in Europe.

This is the 3rd release of 2011 Longitudinal user database as published by EUROSTAT in September 2014.

Geographic coverage

National

Analysis unit

• Households;
• Individuals 16 years and older.

Universe

The survey covered all household members over 16 years old. Persons living in collective households and in institutions are generally excluded from the target population.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

On the basis of various statistical and practical considerations and the precision requirements for the most critical variables, the minimum effective sample sizes to be achieved were defined. Sample size for the longitudinal component refers, for any pair of consecutive years, to the number of households successfully interviewed in the first year in which all or at least a majority of the household members aged 16 or over are successfully interviewed in both the years.

For the cross-sectional component, the plans are to achieve the minimum effective sample size of around 131.000 households in the EU as a whole (137.000 including Iceland and Norway). The allocation of the EU sample among countries represents a compromise between two objectives: the production of results at the level of individual countries, and production for the EU as a whole. Requirements for the longitudinal data will be less important. For this component, an effective sample size of around 98.000 households (103.000 including Iceland and Norway) is planned.

Member States using registers for income and other data may use a sample of persons (selected respondents) rather than a sample of complete households in the interview survey. The minimum effective sample size in terms of the number of persons aged 16 or over to be interviewed in detail is in this case taken as 75 % of the figures shown in columns 3 and 4 of the table I, for the cross-sectional and longitudinal components respectively.

The reference is to the effective sample size, which is the size required if the survey were based on simple random sampling (design effect in relation to the 'risk of poverty rate' variable = 1.0). The actual sample sizes will have to be larger to the extent that the design effects exceed 1.0 and to compensate for all kinds of non-response. Furthermore, the sample size refers to the number of valid households which are households for which, and for all members of which, all or nearly all the required information has been obtained. For countries with a sample of persons design, information on income and other data shall be collected for the household of each selected respondent and for all its members.

At the beginning, a cross-sectional representative sample of households is selected. It is divided into say 4 sub-samples, each by itself representative of the whole population and similar in structure to the whole sample. One sub-sample is purely cross-sectional and is not followed up after the first round. Respondents in the second sub-sample are requested to participate in the panel for 2 years, in the third sub-sample for 3 years, and in the fourth for 4 years. From year 2 onwards, one new panel is introduced each year, with request for participation for 4 years. In any one year, the sample consists of 4 sub-samples, which together constitute the cross-sectional sample. In year 1 they are all new samples; in all subsequent years, only one is new sample. In year 2, three are panels in the second year; in year 3, one is a panel in the second year and two in the third year; in subsequent years, one is a panel for the second year, one for the third year, and one for the fourth (final) year.

According to the Commission Regulation on sampling and tracing rules, the selection of the sample will be drawn according to the following requirements:

1. For all components of EU-SILC (whether survey or register based), the cross-sectional and longitudinal (initial sample) data shall be based on a nationally representative probability sample of the population residing in private households within the country, irrespective of language, nationality or legal residence status. All private households and all persons aged 16 and over within the household are eligible for the operation.
2. Representative probability samples shall be achieved both for households, which form the basic units of sampling, data collection and data analysis, and for individual persons in the target population.
3. The sampling frame and methods of sample selection shall ensure that every individual and household in the target population is assigned a known and non-zero probability of selection.
4. By way of exception, paragraphs 1 to 3 shall apply in Germany exclusively to the part of the sample based on probability sampling according to Article 8 of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EC) No 1177/2003 concerning

Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions. Article 8 of the EU-SILC Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council mentions: 1. The cross-sectional and longitudinal data shall be based on nationally representative probability samples. 2. By way of exception to paragraph 1, Germany shall supply cross-sectional data based on a nationally representative probability sample for the first time for the year 2008. For the year 2005, Germany shall supply data for one fourth based on probability sampling and for three fourths based on quota samples, the latter to be progressively replaced by random selection so as to achieve fully representative probability sampling by 2008. For the longitudinal component, Germany shall supply for the year 2006 one third of longitudinal data (data for year 2005 and 2006) based on probability sampling and two thirds based on quota samples. For the year 2007, half of the longitudinal data relating to years 2005, 2006 and 2007 shall be based on probability sampling and half on quota sample. After 2007 all of the longitudinal data shall be based on probability sampling.

Mode of data collection

Mixed

In-work at-risk-of-poverty rate by age and sex

LEBEN IN EUROPA is the name of the German survey conducted within the scope of the Community statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) conducted all over Europe. Issues of the survey are not only the various income elements, but also other important areas of life such as the housing situation or health. EU-SILC is the new standard data source used to measure poverty and living conditions in the European Union member states.

EU-SILC has been conducted since 2005 in all European Union member states as well as in Norway and Iceland. To ensure the comparability of results, the same variables are covered all over the European Union. Binding minimum standards apply to the survey methods. The survey has been tailored especially to calculating comparable indicators of social inclusion (so-called Laeken indicators) and, consequently, is a major basis for European social policy.

At-risk-of-poverty rate by age group - EU-SILC survey