(05 December 2013) – In 2012, 124.5 million people, or 24.8% of the population, in the EU28 were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, according to Eurostat.
In 2012, the highest shares of persons being at risk of poverty or social exclusion were recorded in Bulgaria (49%), Romania (42%), Latvia (37%) and Greece (35%), and the lowest in the Netherlands and the Czech Republic (both 15%), Finland (17%), Sweden and Luxembourg (both 18%).
In the EU28, 10% 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.
The share of those severely materially deprived varied significantly among Member States, ranging from less than 5% in Luxembourg and Sweden (both 1%), the Netherlands (2%), Denmark and Finland (both 3%) and Austria (4%) to 44% in Bulgaria, 30% in Romania and 26% in Latvia and Hungary.
For low work intensity, 10% of the population aged 0-59 in the EU28 lived in households where the adults worked less than 20% of their total work potential during the past year2. Croatia (16%), Spain, Greece and Belgium (all 14%) had the highest proportion of those living in very low work intensity households, and Luxembourg and Cyprus (both 6%) the lowest.