Subjective poverty rate falls to 17.4% in 2024

In 2024, 17.4% of the EU population was considered to be subjectively poor, an improvement from the 19.1% recorded in 2023.  

Among the EU countries, Greece had the highest rate of people who were considered subjectively poor (66.8%), followed by Bulgaria (37.4%) and Slovakia (28.7%). At the other end of the scale, the lowest rates were reported in the Netherlands and Germany (both 7.3%) and Luxembourg (8.5%).

Source dataset: ilc_sbjp01

Subjective poverty declining for all age groups

Looking at the different age groups in the EU in 2024, the subjective poverty rate was highest among people under 18 years, at 20.6%. Among people aged 18 to 64 years, 17.3% were considered to be subjectively poor, while this was the case for 14.9% of the older generation (65 years and older).

Notably, all age groups saw a decrease in the overall share from 2023 to 2024. The biggest fall was found in the age group of 18-64 years at 1.8 percentage points (pp), while the decline for both the youngest and the oldest age group was 1.6 pp.

Source dataset: ilc_sbjp01