Eurostat research shows that the highest number of people at risk of poverty are recorded in Romania - 32%, Bulgaria - 30%, Spain - 27%, and Greece - 26%.
In 2023, 9.5% of the European Union population was unable to afford a meal containing meat, fish or a vegetarian equivalent every other day, 1.2 percentage points more than in 2022, when the data are for 8.3%, according to a Eurostat study.
According to the European qualification, a "person at risk of poverty" is a citizen who lives with at least one of the three risks: poverty, severe social and material deprivation, and a household in which few people work.
In 2023, the number of people at risk of poverty at EU level is 22.3%, which shows an increase of 2.6 percentage points compared to 2022 (19.7%). At the national level, the highest share of people at risk of poverty who cannot afford adequate food is recorded in Slovakia (45.7%), followed by Hungary (44.9%) and Bulgaria (40.2%). ). On the other hand, the lowest share was registered in Ireland (4.2%), followed by Cyprus (5.0%) and Portugal (5.9%).
In the EU, the gap between the general population and the population at risk of poverty in terms of access to adequate food is 12.8 percentage points. At the national level, Hungary reported the largest gap of 30.2 percentage points, followed by Slovakia (27.9 percentage points) and Greece (27.3 percentage points). In contrast, Sweden, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Portugal and Ireland reported the smallest differences – all below 4.0 percentage points.
Other Eurostat research shows that the most people at risk of poverty are reported in Romania - 32%, Bulgaria - 30%, Spain - 27%, and Greece - 26%. And the lowest values were recorded in the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Finland and Poland. | BGNES
