Nearly a quarter of all children in the EU are at risk of poverty

4 months ago 32

Eurostat has found that almost 20 million children in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023.

The overall figures masks considerable differences across the EU. Romania and Spain have the highest risk in the EU with figures of 39% and 34.5% respectively.

By comparison, Slovenia 10.7%, Finland 13.8%, and the Netherlands 14.3%, have the lowest rates.

The ‘at risk of poverty or social exclusion’ (AROPE) figure combines a risk of poverty figure, severe material and social deprivation measurement, and, or a living in a very low work intensity household. People are included only once even if they are in more than one of the categories.

The material deprivation figure is based on whether a household is deprived of seven out of 13 items, this includes indicators, such as capacity to pay bills based on arrears in payments for basic utilities or rental payments, ability to heat your home, or weather an adult has two pairs of properly fitting shoes. The estimation is based on half the number of adults for which the information is available in the household, the children living in that household can then be considered to be deprived of one of the listed items.

The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan has set the target of lifting 15 million people out of poverty or social exclusion by 2030, with at least 5 million should be children. The COVID-19 pandemic and inflation have made this target more difficult, with the latest figures from Eurostat suggesting just how challenging this target is.

In European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen’s presentation of her Political Guidelines 2024 – 2029 to the European Parliament (18 July), she promised a “first-ever EU Anti-Poverty Strategy”. The guidelines also call for new impetus for progress in social fairness with a new action plan on the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights.”

[Edited by Rajnish Singh]