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 EU27 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 population in the EU27 in 2011 were at-risk-of-poverty after social transfers, meaning that their disposable income was below their national at-risk-of-poverty threshold. The highest at-risk-of-poverty rates were observed in Bulgaria, Romania and Spain (all 22%) and Greece (21%), and the lowest in the Czech Republic (10%), the Netherlands (11%), Austria, Denmark and Slovakia (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.
…9% severely materially deprived…
In the EU27, 9% 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 1% in Luxembourg and Sweden to 44% in Bulgaria and 31% in Latvia.
…and 10% living in households with very low work intensity
As regards the indicator on low work intensity, 10% of the population aged 0-59 in the EU27 lived in households where the adults worked less than 20% of their total work potential during the past year1. Belgium (14%) had the largest proportion of those living in very low work intensity households, and Cyprus (5%) the lowest.
