Romania Has the Most Poor in Europe: 1 in 5 Faces Severe Hardship

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One in five Romanians is so poor that he cannot afford to have meat on the menu every day or to go on vacation, according to the latest Eurostat data. Romania ranks in last place in the European Union, after the Bulgarians. Thus, 19.8% of Romanians faced serious material and social deprivation in 2023.

In 2023, 6.8% of the EU population faced severe material and social deprivation. The share slightly increased compared with 2022 (6.7%).

Among EU countries, the severe material and social deprivation rates varied widely. Romania recorded the highest rate at 19.8%, followed by Bulgaria (18.0%), Greece (13.5%), Hungary (10.4%) and Spain (9.0%).

By contrast, Slovenia (2.0%), Cyprus (2.4%), Sweden, Luxembourg and Estonia (all at 2.5%) reported the lowest rates.

Women are more affected than men

According to data published by Eurostat, in 2023 women in the European Union were more likely to face severe material and social deprivation than men. The deprivation rate among women was 7.2% compared to 6.5% for men. This pattern persisted across all age groups, except for children under 18, where boys (8.5%) had a slightly higher rate than girls (8.3%). Among 18- to 64-year-olds, the overall deprivation rate was 6.8%, with women (7.2%) again more affected than men (6.4%). For people aged 65 and over, the deprivation rate was the lowest at 5.5%, although women (6.1%) still had a higher rate than men (4.8%).

The highest levels of material deprivation in the regions of the south-east of the EU

Romania recorded the largest reduction in the rate of serious material and social deprivation, falling by 4.5 percentage points compared to the previous year. Other significant reductions were recorded in Latvia (minus 1.6 percentage points) and Croatia (minus 1.2 percentage points). In contrast, countries such as Denmark, Austria, Hungary and Spain saw increases of more than 1.0 percentage points in their deprivation rates. South-eastern EU regions reported the highest levels of severe material and social deprivation.

The south-eastern region of Romania recorded the highest rate of regional deprivation in the EU, with over 30% of the population affected. In total, nine EU regions recorded deprivation rates between 20% and 29.9%, mostly in Southern and Eastern Europe. Among them are two regions from Romania, three from Bulgaria and regions from Hungary, Italy and Greece. Countries such as France, Italy, Romania, Hungary and Greece showed significant regional disparities, with differences of more than 15 percentage points between the most and least affected regions.

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