In 2024, 17.4 percent of the EU population will define themselves as poor, which is an improvement compared to 19.1 percent in 2023, Eurostat reports.
Among EU countries, Greece has the highest percentage of people who consider themselves subjectively poor (66.8 percent), followed by Bulgaria (37.4 percent) and Slovakia (28.7 percent).
The lowest values were recorded in the Netherlands and Germany (7.3 percent each) and Luxembourg (8.5 percent).
The highest percentage of subjectively poor in the EU in 2024 is among people under 18 years – 20.6 percent. In the age group 18-64 years, 17.3 percent are considered subjectively poor, and among the elderly (65 years and above) this share is 14.9 percent.
It should be noted that all age groups registered a decline in 2024 compared to 2023.
The largest decrease was observed in the age group 18-64 years – by 1.8 percentage points, while the decline among the youngest and oldest was 1.6 percentage points.