Greece ranks third in EU for poverty and social exclusion – rates rise again, Eurostat reports

The findings land at a time when the Greek government continues to talk up the country’s economic recovery, promoting policies as “relief measures” despite their limited impact on the soaring cost of living.

Released on Wednesday 30 April, the Eurostat report places Greece behind only Bulgaria and Romania in the EU ranking. More than one in four people in the country now live under conditions that meet the EU’s definition of poverty or social exclusion.

“To calculate the number or share of people who are at risk of poverty or social exclusion 3 separate measures are combined and this covers those people who are in at least one of these 3 situations:

• people who are at risk of poverty, in other words, with an equivalised disposable income that is below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold
• people who suffer from severe material and social deprivation, in other words, those who cannot afford at least 7 out of 13 deprivation items (6 related to the individual and seven related to the household) that are considered by most people to be desirable or even necessary to lead an adequate quality of life
• people (aged less than 65 years) living in a household with very low work intensity, in other words, those living in households where adults worked for 20% or less of their total combined work-time potential during the previous twelve months.”

Regarding the second situation, the list of items used to measure severe material and social deprivation includes both household and individual-level essentials.

• List of items at household level:
• Capacity to face unexpected expenses
• Capacity to afford paying for one week annual holiday away from home
• Capacity to being confronted with payment arrears (on mortgage or rental payments, utility bills, hire purchase instalments or other loan payments)
• Capacity to afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish or vegetarian equivalent every second day
• Ability to keep home adequately warm
• Have access to a car/van for personal use
• Replacing worn-out furniture

List of items at individual level:

• Having internet connection
• Replacing worn-out clothes by some new ones
• Having two pairs of properly fitting shoes (including a pair of all-weather shoes)
• Spending a small amount of money each week on him/herself
• Having regular leisure activities
• Getting together with friends/family for a drink/meal at least once a month

Those unable to afford at least seven of these 13 items are classed as living in severe material and social deprivation, and thus fall under the wider umbrella of poverty or social exclusion.

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