These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union and are based on data from the EU-SILC survey.
17% of the population in the EU28 at risk of income poverty…
Looking at each of the three elements contributing to being at risk of poverty or social exclusion, 17% of the EU28 population in 2012 were at-risk-of-poverty after social transfers, meaning that their disposable income was below their national at-risk-of-poverty threshold2. The highest at-risk-of-poverty rates were observed in Greece and Romania (both 23%), Spain (22%), Bulgaria and Croatia (both 21%), and the lowest in the Czech Republic and the Netherlands (both 10%), Denmark, Slovakia and Finland (all 13%). It is important to note that the at-risk-of-poverty rate is a relative measure of poverty and that the poverty threshold varies greatly between Member States. The threshold varies also over time and in a number of Member States it has fallen in recent years due to the economic crisis.
…10% severely materially deprived…
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.
…and 10% living in households with very low work intensity
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 year. 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.
