Greece second in EU for poverty and social exclusion risk

The risk of poverty or social exclusion refers to populations facing at least one of three main forms of vulnerability: low income, severe material and social deprivation, or very low work intensity. A person is considered at risk of poverty or social exclusion if they fall into one of the following categories:

people at risk of poverty, meaning those with disposable income below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold

people experiencing severe material and social deprivation, meaning those who cannot afford at least seven of the 13 deprivation items, six relating to the individual and seven to the household, that are considered by most people desirable or even necessary for a decent quality of life

people under the age of 65 living in a household with ‘very low work intensity’, meaning households where adults worked 20% or less of their total combined potential working time in the previous 12 months.

According to the data released by Eurostat, the highest share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2025 was recorded in Bulgaria, at 29.0%, followed by Greece, at 27.5%, and Romania, at 27.4%. By contrast, the lowest rates were recorded in Czechia, at 11.5%, Poland, at 15.0%, and Slovenia, at 15.5%.