EU countries with increasing poverty?! - According to Eurostat, France leads along with Scandinavian countries
France is one of the few European countries where poverty rates have risen over the past decade. According to the latest Eurostat data, Paris has reported a nearly 2% increase since 2014 in the number of people experiencing "difficulties," or "great difficulties" in making ends meet, as the statistics institute calls them.
Apart from France, over the last ten years poverty rates have only increased in Northern Europe: Denmark (+2.4%), Finland (2%), Sweden (2.8%) and, outside the EU, Norway (+4.7%).
At the same time, many Eastern and Southern European countries have reduced their poverty rates by dozens of percentage points, with Cyprus leading the EU (-38%), followed by Croatia (34.6%), Hungary (26.8%), Bulgaria (26.5%) and Romania (21.8%).
The overall poverty rate in the EU is now 17.4%, meaning that almost two in ten people have serious problems making ends meet. The latest rate reported by Eurostat represents a slight improvement compared to 2023, when it was 19.1%, and a ten-point improvement compared to 2015 (27.1%).
For example, in Greece, the current rate is almost 67%, the highest rate of people living in poverty among all EU countries. Neighboring Bulgaria follows with 37% and Slovakia with almost 29%.
But when broken down by age, the younger generation is suffering the most. The poverty rate among young people under 18 is the highest at 20.6%, while people aged 65 and over reported the lowest rate at 14.9%. "All age groups recorded a decrease in the overall rate from 2023 to 2024," Eurostat says.
The largest decline was recorded in the 18-64 age group with 1.8 percentage points, while the decline for both the youngest and oldest age groups was 1.6 percentage points.
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