The number of EU citizens living in “severe deprivation” fell to a five-year low in 2015, according to a poverty report by Eurostat, published on Thursday. However, this improvement hasn’t been made in Greece, as the rate increased for the fifth year in the row.
In 2015, 8.2% of the population or around 41 million people in the European Union 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.
In 2015, the proportion of persons severely materially deprived in the EU continued the downward trend observed since its peak in 2012 (9.9%).
However, according to Eurostat‘s report, in 2015, 2.37 million people in Greece lived in severely deprived conditions, whereas the total in the EU was 41 million people. Greece marked an increase in the percentage of severely deprived with 19.5% in 2012, 20.3% in 2013, 21.5% in 2014 and 22.2% in 2015.
Families with dependent children are affected more than households without children. Households with two or more adults with children suffering from severe material deprivation reaches 8.3%, compared with 6.0% for those without dependent children; severe material deprivation hits 17.3% of single parent families, compared with 11.0% for single adults without dependent children
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