In 2018 Turkey had the largest disparity between it's richest and poorest small regions in Europe, in terms of GDP per capita. The richest small regions in Turkey are estimated to have 3.5 times the GDP per capita of poor regions, with Hungary and the United Kingdom also displaying significant regional disparities.

Gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is a measure of economic production, which takes the entire output of a national economy during a year and divides it by the population of that country. In the European Union, Luxembourg, Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Austria come out on top as the countries which produced the most per capita in 2023. Europe's richest countries benefit from multinational companies Many criticisms have been made of using GDP per capita as away to judge a country's economic wealth in recent years, as global capital flows have come to distort the statistics and to give a warped impression of different countries' wealth. This is most notably the case for Ireland and for Luxembourg, which while certainly high-income countries, have experienced dramatic booms in their GDP over the past two decades due to the accounting practices of the large multinational corporations which have their European headquarters in these member states, such as Facebook and Apple in Dublin, and Amazon in Luxembourg. Will the poorest countries converge towards the EU average? At the bottom of the list, two of the most recent member states of the EU, Romania and Bulgaria, come last in terms of GDP per capita. Whether these countries will be able to capitalize on their relatively low-wages to spur economic growth and experience the convergence towards the older member states of the union shown by countries such as Estonia, Czechia, and Lithuania, remains a pressing issue for these poorer member states.

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.

This study offers an empirical exploration and critical assessment of absolute poverty trends and patterns in the EU from a welfare regime perspective. Absolute poverty is operationalized as extreme deprivation, that is, the enforced incapacity to afford certain goods and services. The empirical findings indicate that absolute poverty is low in the countries of the Social-democratic welfare regime and high in countries of the South-European (especially Greece) and the Liberal regime, whereas the countries of the Conservative-Corporatist welfare regime as well as Spain place themselves in-between.

This dataset provides values for GDP PER CAPITA PPP reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

The operation Poverty and Social Inequality Survey reports on the situation regarding poverty in households in the Basque Country. The objective is the knowledge, study and evaluation of the different situations of poverty, as well as the obtaining and analysis of parameters such as indicators of poverty of maintenance and accumulation, indicators of precariousness, social inequality or covert poverty.

At-risk-of-poverty rate by NUTS 2 regions

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.

In a model where agents differ in wages and preferences over labor time-consumption bundles, we study labor income tax schemes that alleviate poverty. To avoid conflict with individual well-being, we require redistribution to take place between agents on both sides of the poverty line provided they have the same labor time. This requirement is combined with effciency and robustness properties. Maximizing the resulting social preferences under incentive compatibility constraints yields the following evaluation criterion: tax schemes should minimize the labor time required to reach the poverty line. We apply this criterion to European countries and the US. The data and code provided allow to replicate this application.

In Italy, the largest part of population who live below the poverty line is located in the South. As of 2021, in three Southern regions, Apulia, Campania, and Calabria over 20 percent of the population was living below the poverty line. An Italian household with four members is considered poor when it has an availability of less than about 1.7 thousand euros a month.

Women and Men in Spain: Population at risk of poverty or social exclusion(Europe 2030 strategy), by level of education and period. Spain and the EU-28 (population aged 18 years old and over). Annual. National.

The indicator is calculated as the distance between the median equivalised total net income of persons below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold and the at-risk-of-poverty threshold itself, expressed as a percentage of the at-risk-of-poverty threshold. This threshold is set at 60 % of the national median equivalised disposable income of all people in a country and not for the EU as a whole. 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.

Abstract

In 2012, the EU-SILC instrument covered all EU Member States plus Iceland, Turkey, Norway, Switzerland and Croatia. 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.

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. Labor, education and health observations only apply to persons aged 16 and over. 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 1st revision of the 2012 Cross-Sectional User Database as released in September 2014.

Geographic coverage

The survey covers following countries: Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Spain; Ireland; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Hungary; Malta; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovenia; Slovakia; Sweden; United Kingdom; Iceland; Norway; Turkey; Switzerland

Small parts of the national territory amounting to no more than 2% of the national population and the national territories listed below may be excluded from EU-SILC: France - French Overseas Departments and territories; Netherlands - The West Frisian Islands with the exception of Texel; Ireland - All offshore islands with the exception of Achill, Bull, Cruit, Gorumna, Inishnee, Lettermore, Lettermullan and Valentia; United Kingdom - Scotland north of the Caledonian Canal, the Scilly Islands.

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 crosssectional 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.

Detailed information about sampling is available in Quality Reports in Documentation.

Mode of data collection

Mixed

Women and Men in Spain: Population at risk of relative poverty of persons in work, by age groups and period. Spain and the EU-28 (%). Annual. National.

Women and Men in Spain: Persistent risk-of-poverty rate by period in the EU. Annual. National.

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.

Living Conditions Survey (LCS): Risk of poverty or social exclusion (Europe 2020 strategy) and its components by autonomous community. Annual. Autonomous Communities and Cities.

European Union - Persistent at Risk of Poverty rate: Males was 8.60% in December of 2023, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for European Union - Persistent at Risk of Poverty rate: Males - last updated from the EUROSTAT on March of 2025. Historically, European Union - Persistent at Risk of Poverty rate: Males reached a record high of 11.10% in December of 2015 and a record low of 8.60% in December of 2023.

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.

European Union - At Risk of Poverty rate of older people: Less than 65 years was 16.00% in December of 2023, 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 older people: Less than 65 years - last updated from the EUROSTAT on March of 2025. Historically, European Union - At Risk of Poverty rate of older people: Less than 65 years reached a record high of 18.30% in December of 2016 and a record low of 16.00% in December of 2023.