Brussels, 04/11/2012 (Agence Europe) - The number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion in the European Union rose significantly in 2011. Currently the figure stands at 24.2% of the population of the EU after remaining stable at 23.4% in 2008 and 23.5% in 2010, reveal figures published by Eurostat, the EU statistical office on Monday 3 December.
Exclusion can take any of three different forms. These are the risks of: poverty; finding oneself in a situation of severe material deprivation; and living in households of very low work intensity. The EU average, however, conceals huge differences between member states. Three countries have far higher percentages of their populations falling into at least one of these above criteria. Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria all record levels of above 40%, with Bulgaria's close to 50%. By comparison, the countries with the lowest percentages of people at risk are the Czech Republic (15%), the Netherlands and Sweden (16% each) and Luxembourg and Austria (17% each).
The countries commonly acknowledged as having suffered most in the eurozone crisis have particularly high at-risk-of-poverty rates. Greece and Spain, with rates of 22% and 21% respectively, are only marginally behind Bulgaria (22.3%) and Romania (22.2%).
Risk of poverty and social exclusion is not, however, a simple east-west or north-south or issue, as is illustrated by the households of very low work intensity indicator. Here, Belgium has the highest rate, with 14% of households where, on average, the adults worked less than 20% of their total work potential during the past year. (JK/transl.fl)