Five regions of Greece are in the highest risk category of poverty and social exclusion in the EU (over 33% of the population) among all member states, according to the latest Eurostat data (“Living conditions in Europe – poverty and social exclusion“). These are Western Greece (35.2%), Western Macedonia (36.3%), Eastern Macedonia-Thrace (33.8%), North Aegean (33.2%) and the Ionian Islands (41.4%), out of a total of 25 EU regions (NUTS2) analyzed in 2024.
As stated on the official Eurostat website, EU countries are often compared with each other, but sometimes when small countries like Luxembourg or Malta are compared with larger ones like Germany, France or Italy, the comparison can be misleading.
Therefore, analysis of regional data (NUTS) can highlight inequalities either across the EU or within individual countries, such as the East-West divide in Germany or the North-South divide in Italy.
Wide disparities
In 2024, across the European Union, 93 out of 243 regions recorded rates of at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion higher than the Union average (21%). Four regions had the same rate, while 146 had lower rates.
In five regions, these rates were more than double the EU average. The highest was recorded in Guyana (French Guiana), where the rate soared to 59.5%. This was followed by Calabria (48.8%) and Campania (43.5%) in Italy, as well as Melilla (44.5%) and Ceuta (42.2%) in Spain.
The remaining regions in this category (shown on the map in darker blue) are located in Bulgaria and Romania, as well as in the urban areas of Brussels (Belgium) and Bremen (Germany).
At national level, the highest rates were recorded in Bulgaria (35.1%), Spain (34.6%) and Romania (33.8%). On the other hand, the lowest rates were recorded in Slovenia (11.8%), Cyprus (14.8%) and the Czech Republic (15.4%).
Greece, which is in fourth place, records one of the highest rates of child poverty in the EU, with one in three children living in problematic conditions of social exclusion. The main causes are low disposable income and high cost of living, unemployment or part-time employment of parents, poor access to quality childcare and education services, as well as social benefits that are considered insufficient.
An interesting element is the educational level of the parents, as based on this, a risk gap of more than 50 percentage points was observed in 16 EU countries. In comparison, while in 2024 61.2% of children with parents with at least secondary education (ISCED 0–2) faced a risk of poverty, the rate for children with parents with higher education (ISCED 5–8) fell to just 11.0%.
The smallest differences were observed in Denmark (29.3), Portugal (29.5) and Estonia (35.5), while the largest were recorded in Bulgaria (71.5), the Czech Republic (70.4) and Romania (69.9).
It should be added that the “children at risk of poverty or social exclusion” (AROPE) indicator used by Eurostat includes the minor population living in households with an income below 60% of the national average, with severe material and social deprivation (inability to cover basic goods and activities) or in households where adults work little or not at all.
