35.7% of Greeks were facing the risk of poverty or social exclusion during 2013, according to Eurostat figures unveiled on Tuesday, while 23.1% remained at the risk of poverty even after the social transfers and another 18.2% were living in households with a very low work intensity, topping European Union’s rankings in both categories.
To be classified as facing the risk of poverty a citizen should earn less than 60% of the average national available income. Persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion are defined as those falling in one or more of three categories: those at risk of poverty after social transfers, those living in households with very low work intensity or those that are materially deprived.
In absolute figures, nearly 3.9 million Greeks (almost one out of three) were classified as at risk of poverty or social exclusion, with a 7.6% increase to 35.7% from 28.1% in 2008. Greece ranked third amongst its European partners for the percentage of the population at risk of poverty and social exclusion, only behind Bulgaria with 48% and Romania with 40%.
In 2013, the percentage of Greeks defined as materially deprived was 20.3%, when the EU average was 9.6%, more than two times up. The lowest EU rate in this category was scored in Sweden (1.4%) and the highest in Bulgaria (43%). In addition, Greece had the highest EU percentage of households with very low work intensity at 18.3%, compared with the EU average of 10.7%.
In the EU as a whole, up to 120 million people, or 24.5% of its population, were defined as at risk of poverty and social exclusion, increased by 0.7% since 2008 where it stood at 23.8%. The lowest rates of poverty and social exclusion in the EU were scored in the Czech Republic (14.6%), the Netherlands (15.9%), Finland (16%) and Sweden (16.4%).
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