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.

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 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.

Historical dataset showing European Union poverty rate by year from N/A to N/A.

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.

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.

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

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.

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)

Compares the at-risk-of-poverty rates for the UK and EU between 2005 and 2010.

Source agency: Office for National Statistics

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: Comparison of UK and EU at-risk-of-poverty rates

In 2022, the poverty rate in France reached **** percent. In recent years, poverty in France has been increasing, affecting both unemployed and working people. In fact, according to Insee, *** percent of economically active persons had a living standard inferior to the poverty rate in 2022. The increase in poverty in France Poverty in France reached its highest rate in 2018. That year, almost ** percent of the French population was living below the poverty line, which means that their income was less than 60 percent of the median income in the country. Despite a significant decrease between 2000 and 2004, when the rate went from **** percent down to **** percent, poverty has been rising in France in recent years. Studies have shown that the number of poor people increased in France, reaching approximately *** million individuals in 2022, while **** million people were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2020.Poverty is affecting the youth and middle classes Poverty seems to affect mainly younger generations. In 2016, **** percent of the French aged between 18 and 29 years old were considered poor. In comparison, only *** percent of the French aged 65 and 74 years old were in the same situation. Youth unemployment in France, one of the highest in Europe, might explain this phenomenon. However, the middle class is not spared from the rise of poverty either. In 2017, **** percent of French middle-income households had difficulties making ends meet.

This statistic shows the United Kingdom (UK) public opinion on the 2020 European Union (EU) objective that the number of Europeans living below the poverty line should be reduced by a quarter by 2020, as of May 2017. This was considered too modest by 17 percent of respondents.

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...

This statistic displays the proportion of households at risk of poverty in Europe and the United Kingdom (UK) that are overburdened by housing costs in 2012 and 2015. In Europe the percentage of households at risk of poverty overburdened by housing costs fell from 38.2 percent in 2012 to 26 percent in 2015.

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 share of persons who are at work and have an equivalised disposable income below the risk-of-poverty threshold, which is set at 60 % of the national median equivalised disposable income (after social transfers). The indicator is broken down by working time (full- and part-time workers).

The indicator shows the percentage of the population whose equivalised disposable income was below the ‘at-.risk-of-poverty threshold’ for the current year and at least 2 out of the preceding 3 years.