The share of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU to its pre-crisis level

In 2015, around 119 million people, or 23.7% of the population, in the European Union (EU) were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This means that they were in at least one of the following three conditions: at-risk-of-poverty after social transfers (income poverty), severely materially deprived or living in households with very low work intensity. After three consecutive increases between 2009 and 2012 to reach almost 25%, the proportion of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU has since continuously decreased to return to its 2008 level (23.7%), but it remains in 2015 higher than its 2009 low-point (23.3%).

These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

In 2015, more than a third of the population was at risk of poverty or social exclusion in three Member States: Bulgaria (41.3%), Romania (37.3%) and Greece (35.7%). The lowest risk of poverty has been registered in the Czech Republic (14.0%).

In the EU in 2015, 8.1% of the population were severely materially deprived, meaning that they had living conditions constrained by a lack of resources such as not being able to afford to pay their bills, keep their home adequately warm, or take a one week holiday away from home. This proportion of persons severely materially deprived in the EU has decreased compared with both 2014 (8.9%) and 2008 (8.5%).

The share of those severely materially deprived in 2015 varied significantly among Member States for which data are available, ranging from more than 20% of the total population in Bulgaria (34.2%), Romania (22.7%) and Greece (22.2%), to less than 5% in Sweden (0.7%), Luxembourg (2.0%), Finland (2.2%), the Netherlands (2.5%), Austria (3.6%), Denmark (3.7%), Germany (4.4%), Estonia and France (both 4.5%). Compared with 2008, the proportion of persons severely materially deprived has increased in twelve Member States for which data are available, and decreased in fourteen.