One-fifth of EU citizens at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Including 13 million Italians

Brussels – One in five European citizens is on the poverty line. We are talking about 94.6 million people who have insufficient income to lead a decent life and suffer from severe material and social deprivation. Looking at the glass half full, that’s 700,000 fewer than in 2022.

Eurostat’s data, covering 2023, reveal wide variations among member states. While Finland, Slovenia, and the Czech Republic have shares of less than 16 per cent, more than 30 per cent of citizens in Romania and Bulgaria face the risk of poverty. Also above the EU average of 21.4 per cent are Spain, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Italy. There are 13.4 million Italians living in poverty or social exclusion, 22.8 per cent of the population. 

Some groups are more exposed than others: the risk is greater for women, for young adults aged 18-24, for people with low levels of education and, in particular, for the unemployed. It also emerges that more than one-fifth of the EU population living in households with dependent children are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This figure drops slightly for households without dependent children.

Employment status is the variable that most influences the risk of poverty or social exclusion, affecting 66.3 per cent of the unemployed. The percentage of working people (11.3%) and retirees
(18.7%) who live below the poverty line while having a source of income is also concerning. Recently, the European Commission’s analysis of social convergence shone a spotlight on a mainly Italian problem: In 2022, the at-risk-of-poverty rate for Italian workers was “among the highest in the EU,” 11.5 per cent against a European average of 8.5, due to “wage stagnation, low labour intensity, along with a high proportion of single-income households.

A gender gap also persists across the EU: the risk is higher for women than for men, 22.4 per cent versus 20.3—a risk that affects as many as one-quarter of adults aged 18–24.