Living conditions in

Europe - poverty and

social exclusion Statistics Explained

Data extracted in: October 2020.

Planned article update: October 2021.

This article is part of a set of statistical articles that form Eurostat’s online publication, Living conditions in
Europe . Each article helps provide a comprehensive and up-to-date summary of living conditions in Europe,
presenting some key results from the European Union’s (EU) statistics on income and living conditions (EU-
SILC) , which is conducted across EU Member States, as well as the United Kingdom and most of the EFTA
and candidate countries .

Key findings
In 2019, an estimated 21.1 % of the EU-27 population — or some 92.4 million people — were at risk of poverty
or social exclusion .

The risk of poverty and social exclusion is not dependent strictly on a household ’s level of income, as it
may also reflect joblessness, low work intensity , working status, or a range of other socio-economic issues. The
number or share of people who are at risk of poverty or social exclusion combines three separate measures and
covers those persons who are in at least one of these three situations:

• persons who are at risk of poverty , in other words, with an equivalised disposable income that is below
the at-risk-of-poverty threshold;
• persons who suffer from severe material deprivation, in other words, those who cannot afford at least four
out of nine predefined material items that are considered by most people to be desirable or even necessary
to lead an adequate quality of life;
• persons (aged less than 60 years) living in a household with very low work intensity, in other words,
those living in households where adults worked no more than 20 % of their full work potential during the
previous year.
The results presented in this article confirm that the risk of poverty or social exclusion was greater across the
EU-27 among women (rather than men), young adults (rather than middle-aged persons or pensioners), people
with a low level of educational attainment (rather than those with a tertiary level of educational attainment)
and people with longstanding health limitations.
• Around two fifths of the EU-27 population living in single adult households with dependent children were
at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2019, while the risk of poverty or social exclusion was also relatively
high among households composed of two adults with more than two children.
• Working status is unsurprisingly one of the main socio-economic characteristics that impacts upon the
risk of poverty or social exclusion. In 2019, while the risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU-27
was 11.1 % for employed persons , it was close to two thirds (65.4 %) for unemployed people and stood
at 41.1 % for other economically inactive persons, in other words people who — for a reason other than
unemployment or retirement — did not work.

Source : Statistics Explained (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/) - 06/07/2021 1

 • The risk of poverty or social exclusion varies considerably between the EU Member States, but also within
individual Member States. For example, in some Member States — predominantly in the Baltic Member
States , eastern or southern parts of the EU — the risk of poverty or social exclusion was higher in rural
areas than it was in urban areas ( cities or towns and suburbs ), whereas in many western Member States
poverty or social exclusion was more common in cities.

• As noted in an article on income distribution and income inequality , social protection measures, such
as social transfers , provide an important means for tackling monetary poverty : in 2019, social transfers
reduced the EU-27 at-risk-of-poverty rate from 24.5 % (before social transfers, pensions excluded) to 16.5
%, bringing the rate down by 8.0 percentage points .

• In much the same way as long-term unemployment has a greater impact on lives than shorter periods of
unemployment, the persistent risk of poverty is inherently linked to a disproportionately higher risk of
social exclusion. The persistent at-risk-of-poverty rate shows the proportion of people who were below
the poverty threshold and had also been below the threshold for at least two of the three preceding years.
This is of interest insofar as it allows a longitudinal analysis of whether the risk of poverty is transitory
in nature (shared among various members of society) or whether it is a more structural phenomenon
(whereby an unlucky part of the population are persistently poor). The persistent at-risk-of-poverty
rate was more prevalent among the population living in single adult households, particularly those with
dependent children (many of these households are characterised by income levels that are persistently
below the poverty threshold). On average, more than one fifth (21.4 %) of single adult households with
dependent children in the EU-27 was at persistent risk of poverty in 2018.

Poverty and social exclusion

Around one in five people in the EU-27 were at risk of poverty or social exclusion

In 2019, there were an estimated 92.4 million people in the EU-27 at risk of poverty or social exclusion, which
was equivalent to 21.1 % of the total population. The number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion,
which may be abbreviated as AROPE, corresponds to the sum of persons who are (i) at risk of poverty (as
indicated by their disposable income); and/or (ii) face severe material deprivation (as gauged by their ability
to purchase a set of predefined material items); and/or (iii) live in a household with very low work intensity.
Having peaked at 108.7 million in 2012, the number of persons who were at risk of poverty or social exclusion
in the EU-27 fell during seven consecutive years. There has been a decrease of 16.3 million in relation to the
number of people who were at risk of poverty or social exclusion since the 2012 peak. Looking at the period
of time shown in Figure 1 , the number of people in the EU-27 at risk of poverty or social exclusion was 11.3
million lower in 2019 than in 2010.

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 2

Figure 1: People at risk of poverty or social exclusion, EU-27, 2010-2019 (million persons) Source:
Eurostat (ilc_peps01)

The profile of people in the EU-27 at risk of poverty or social exclusion

Women, young adults, people with a low level of educational attainment, people who experienced limitations in
activities due to health problems, and unemployed persons were, on average, more likely to be at risk of poverty
or social exclusion in 2019 than other groups within the EU-27 population (see Figure 2 ).

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 3

Figure 2: Share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, analysed by socio-economic
characteristic, EU-27, 2019 (%) Source: Eurostat (ilc_peps01), (ilc_peps02) and (hlth_dpe010)

When analysed by sex, the risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU-27 was higher for women in 2019 than
it was for men (22.0 % compared with 20.2 %).

There were notable differences when analysing the risk of poverty or social exclusion by age

When analysed by age the highest risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2019 in the EU-27 was recorded for
young adults aged 18-24 years (27.8 %), while the lowest risk was recorded for people aged 65 years and over
(18.6 %). Between these two age groups, the risk of poverty or social exclusion was 19.9 % for people aged 25-49
years and 21.9 % among the population aged 50-64 years. The youngest age group, persons aged less than 18
years, also had a relatively high risk (22.5 %).

Health limitations were a noteworthy determinant of differences in the risk of poverty or so-
cial exclusion

In 2019, people in the EU-27 aged 16 years or over who were severely limited in activities because of health
problems have a substantially higher risk of poverty or social exclusion (34.9 %) than persons without limita-
tions (17.4 %). For persons with some health-related activity limitation the risk recorded was 25.4 %.

Besides age and the level of health-related activity limitations, educational attainment also had
a considerable impact on the risk of poverty or social exclusion

In 2019, almost one third (33.2 %) of all persons aged 18 years and over with a low level of educational
attainment (ISCED levels 0-2) in the EU-27 were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared with 10.5 % of
people in the same age group with a tertiary (high) level of educational attainment (ISCED levels 5-8). The cor-
responding percentage for people with a medium level of educational attainment (ISCED levels 3-4) was 19.7 %.

Persons who were unemployed faced a particularly high risk of poverty or social exclusion

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 4

In the EU-27, close to two thirds (65.4 %) of the unemployed aged 18 years and over were at risk of poverty or
social exclusion in 2019. Other economically inactive persons (other than through unemployment or retirement)
faced the second-highest risk on the basis of an analysis by activity status, with 41.1 % at risk. For comparison,
the share of people in employment who were at risk of poverty or social exclusion was 11.1 %.

In the EU-27 as a whole, the risk of poverty or social exclusion was the same for households
with dependent children as for those without

In 2019, more than one fifth (21.1 %) of people living in households with dependent children in the EU-27
were at risk of poverty or social exclusion which was the same share as among households without dependent
children. Nevertheless, these rates varied considerably across the EU Member States. For people living in
households with dependent children, the rate ranged from highs of 31.8 % in Romania, 31.2 % in Greece and
30.0 % in Italy (2018 data) down to 11.3 % in Czechia, 11.2 % in Denmark and 10.2 % in Slovenia (see Figure
3 ). For those in households without dependent children, the rates varied from 36.5 % in Bulgaria and 36.1 %
in Latvia to 14.0 % in Slovakia and 13.8 % in Czechia.

Figure 3: Share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion for households with or without
dependent children, 2019 (%) Source: Eurostat (ilc_peps03)

In 14 EU Member States — including all of the Baltic Member States — the population living in households
without dependent children had a higher risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2019 than those in households
with dependent children. In Latvia and Estonia, the risk of poverty or social exclusion among persons living
in households without children was 17.8 and 12.4 percentage points higher respectively than the risk faced by
people living in households with dependent children. In the remaining 13 Member States — including all of the
southern Member States except for Cyprus — the risk was higher for people living in households with dependent
children. The risk of poverty or social exclusion was notably higher among people living in households with
dependent children in Luxembourg (a difference of 7.8 percentage points), Spain (6.5 points) and Italy (5.2
points; 2018 data).

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 5

People living in single adult households with dependent children constituted a particularly vul-
nerable group

Table 1 looks in more detail at some specific types of households. In 2019, around two fifths (40.3 %) of
single adult households with dependent children in the EU-27 faced the risk of poverty or social exclusion.
Among the EU Member States, this rate ranged between 54.4 % in Ireland (2018 data) and 30.0 % in Slovenia.

Table 1: Share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, analysed by household type, 2019
(%) Source: Eurostat (ilc_peps03)

The risk of poverty or social exclusion was higher for households with three or more children

The risk of poverty or social exclusion was generally higher for the population living in households with three or
more children. The risk for people living in a household composed of two adults with three or more dependent
children averaged 27.2 % across the EU-27 in 2019, which was 6.0 percentage points higher than the average for
all households with dependent children. This situation of a higher rate for households composed of two adults
with three or more dependent children than for all households with dependent children was observed in all of
the EU Member States except for Estonia and Ireland (2018 data).

In 2019, almost one third (32.0 %) of the EU-27 population living alone (single person households) faced
the risk of poverty or social exclusion. In five EU Member States this rate exceeded 50.0 % in 2019: Bulgaria
(59.0 %), Latvia (56.8 %), Estonia (53.5 %), Lithuania (52.2 %) and Croatia (50.9 %). In seven Member States

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 6

— namely Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania and Denmark — the risk of poverty or social
exclusion was higher for the population living in single person households than it was for people living in single
adult households with dependent children.

Among the different types of household covered in Table 1 , one of the lowest risks of poverty or social
exclusion was recorded for people living in households composed of two adults with one dependent child — a
rate of 15.1 % across the EU-27 in 2019. Among the EU Member States, the risk of poverty or social exclusion
for this type of household ranged from 24.6 % in Greece to 6.6 % in Denmark.

More than one fifth of people living in rural areas of the EU-27 were at risk of poverty or
social exclusion

Aside from socio-demographic factors, the risk of poverty or social exclusion is also affected by the degree
of urbanisation . Figure 4 reveals that 22.2 % of the EU-27 population living in rural areas was exposed to
the risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2019. The risk was somewhat lower for people living in cities (20.3 %),
while the lowest risk was recorded for the population living in towns and suburbs (18.0 %).

Figure 4: Share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, analysed by degree of urbanisation,
2019 (%) Source: Eurostat (ilc_peps01) and (ilc_peps13)

A more detailed analysis shows contrasting patterns among the EU Member States concerning the impact that
urbanisation had on the risk of poverty or social exclusion. In the majority of western Member States, the
risk of poverty or social exclusion was most pronounced in cities. In total, nine Members States displayed
this situation, with the gap between the rate for cities and for the next highest degree of urbanisation class
highest in Austria (11.1 percentage points difference), followed by Belgium (9.9 points). In Finland, the risk
was joint highest in cities and rural areas. By contrast, the risk of poverty or social exclusion was particularly
concentrated among rural populations in Romania and Bulgaria, where the rates for rural areas were 18.9 and

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 7

16.5 percentage points respectively higher than for towns and suburbs (which had the second highest risk). The
risk of poverty or social exclusion for people living in towns and suburbs was often situated between the values
recorded for rural areas and for cities. However, in Czechia, Ireland (2018 data), Cyprus and Luxembourg
people living in towns and suburbs faced a higher risk of poverty or social exclusion than people in either of the
other degree of urbanisation classes.

In 2019, the highest risks of poverty or social exclusion in cities were recorded in Italy (29.1 %; 2018 data),
Belgium (28.5 %) and Greece (27.3 %), while the lowest rates were in Czechia (11.8 %) and Slovakia (10.9
%). The risk of poverty or social exclusion for people living in towns and suburbs ranged from 28.7-29.1 % in
Greece, Bulgaria and Cyprus to 12.8 % in the Netherlands. By contrast, the range in the risk of poverty or
social exclusion was much greater for rural populations. In Bulgaria and Romania, more than two fifths of their
rural populations faced such risks, 47.9 % in the former and 44.3 % in the latter, while around one third of the
rural population of Greece (34.4 %) also faced the risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2019. The lowest shares
of the population living in rural areas that faced the risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2019 were 11.3 % in
Austria, 10.9 % in the Netherlands and 6.2 % in Malta.

Component indicators which contribute to an analysis of the risk of poverty or social exclu-
sion

Figure 5 provides an analysis for the EU-27 population of the various risks of poverty or social exclusion.
Among the 92.4 million inhabitants within the EU-27 that faced the risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2019,
some 5.2 million lived in households experiencing simultaneously all three poverty and social exclusion risks.
There were 11.4 million people in the EU-27 living both at risk of poverty and in a household with very low work
intensity (but not severely materially deprived); 8.1 million were at risk of poverty and at the same time severely
materially deprived (but not in a household with very low work intensity); 1.3 million lived in households with
very low work intensity while experiencing severe material deprivation (but were not at risk of poverty).

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 8

Figure 5: Number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, analysed by type of risk, EU-27,
2019 (million) Source: Eurostat (ilc_pees01)

However, the majority of the EU-27 population living at risk of poverty or social exclusion experienced only
one of the three individual criteria: there were 47.5 million persons who were exclusively at risk of poverty,
9.7 million who faced severe material deprivation and 9.0 million that lived in households with very low work
intensity.

The information shown in Figure 6 confirms that monetary poverty — in other words, those people at risk of
poverty — was the most widespread form of poverty and social exclusion, with 16.5 % of the EU-27 population
at risk of poverty in 2019 (to a relatively small extent combined with one or both of the other two risks). Some
8.5 % of the EU-27 population lived in households with very low work intensity in 2019 (either as a single risk
or combined with one of the other risks), while 5.6 % of the EU-27 population faced severe material deprivation
(either as a single risk or combined with one of the other risks).

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 9

Figure 6: Share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion, analysed by type of risk, EU-27,
2010-2019 (%) Source: Eurostat (ilc_li02), (ilc_lvhl11) and (ilc_mddd11)

Monetary poverty

The at-risk-of-poverty rate provides information for the monetary dimension of poverty and social exclusion. It
shows the proportion of the population that has an income level below the national at-risk-of-poverty threshold.
Note that there are no thresholds for the European aggregates (EU-27 or EA-19) as the thresholds are only
applied nationally. The at-risk-of-poverty rates for the European aggregates are population-weighted averages
of the relevant national rates.

In 2019, one fifth or more of the total population was at risk of poverty in Romania (23.8 %), Latvia (22.9 %),
Bulgaria (22.6 %), Estonia (21.7 %), Spain (20.7 %), Lithuania (20.6 %) and Italy (20.3 %; 2018 data), while
at the other end of the scale around one tenth of the population was at risk of poverty in Czechia (10.1 %) —
see Figure 7 .

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 10

Figure 7: At-risk-of-poverty rate and at-risk-of-poverty threshold, 2019 Source: Eurostat
(ilc_li02) and (ilc_li01)

At-risk-of-poverty thresholds may, in theory, be set at any arbitrary level. Within the EU, a threshold set
at 60 % of the national median equivalised income is the most widely used. Note that such thresholds do not
directly measure wealth or poverty. Rather, they provide information onrelative levels of income below which a
person is considered to a have low income. In EU Member States with high living standards, a person having an
income below the threshold does not necessarily imply a very low standard of living or quality of life in absolute
terms. Poverty thresholds are usually expressed in terms of purchasing power standards (PPS) in order to make
cross-country comparisons easier to interpret; data expressed in PPS (rather than in euros for example) have
been adjusted for national differences in price levels as — theoretically — one PPS can buy the same amount
of goods and services in each Member State.

In 2019, the national at-risk of poverty income thresholds (based on 60 % of national median equivalised
income) for a single person ranged from a high of PPS 17 366 in Luxemburg down to PPS 5 022 in Bulgaria
and PPS 4 403 in Romania. The poverty thresholds in Switzerland and Norway were also particularly high at
PPS 16 240 (2018 data) and PPS 16 023.

Among the adult population, elderly people — defined here as people aged 65 years and over — were somewhat
less likely to be exposed to the risk of poverty. The at-risk-of-poverty rate among elderly people in the EU-27
was 16.0 % in 2019, compared with an average of 16.5 % for the whole population. The age groups 50-64 years
and 25-49 years showed even lower exposure to the risk of poverty with rates of 15.6 % and 14.9 % respectively.
Higher at-risk of poverty rates were observed for two younger age groups: 18.7 % for people aged less than 18
years and 22.5 % for young adults — defined here as people aged 18-24 years (see Table 2 ).

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 11

 Table 2: At-risk-of-poverty rate by age group, 2019 (%) Source: Eurostat (ilc_li02)

The at-risk-of-poverty rate before and after deducting housing costs

Housing costs comprise costs associated with living somewhere (for example, rental payments, mortgage in-
terest payments, or the cost of repairs), utility costs that result from the use of a dwelling (such as water or
electricity charges), and other local taxes/charges.

Housing costs often account for a considerable proportion of a household’s disposable income and rising housing
costs are often cited as one of the key factors burdening households with low incomes.

A comparison of the at-risk- of-poverty rate before and after deducting housing costs is shown in Figure
8 . It reveals that the share of the EU-27 population that was at risk of poverty in 2019 was 16.5 % before
deducting housing costs but 30.4 % after deducting housing costs. As such, the share of the EU-27 population
that was at risk of poverty was almost twice as high after taking account of housing costs.

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 12

Figure 8: At-risk-of-poverty rate before and after deducting housing costs, 2019 (%) Source:
Eurostat (ilc_li02) and (ilc_li48)

The impact of housing costs varies considerably both between and within EU Member States: for example,
somebody who lives in central Paris may expect to spend a considerably larger proportion of their income on
housing costs than someone who lives in Perpignan, Rennes or Strasbourg.

Across the EU Member States, the relative impact of housing on poverty was particularly pronounced in Den-
mark, Czechia, Greece, the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Slovakia and Belgium, where the at-risk-of-poverty
rate in 2019 was more than twice as high after deducting housing costs than beforehand.

By contrast, the Baltic and many of eastern and southern EU Member States were characterised by hous-
ing costs having a relatively low impact on the risk of poverty. This may be attributed, at least in part, to
lower costs of accommodation and utilities, lower residential taxes and a higher percentage of home ownership
(without a mortgage).

The impact of social transfers on monetary poverty

Social protection measures, such as social benefits, are an important means for tackling monetary poverty.
By comparing at-risk-of-poverty rates before and after social transfers, it is possible to make an assessment of
the effectiveness of welfare systems (see Figure 9 ).

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 13

Figure 9: At-risk-of-poverty rate before and after social transfers, 2019 (%) Source: Eurostat
(ilc_li02) and (ilc_li10)

In 2019, social transfers reduced the at-risk-of poverty rate for the EU-27 population from 24.5 % (after pensions
but before other social transfers) to 16.5 %, bringing the rate down by 8.0 percentage points. Social transfers
had a particularly large impact on reducing the risk of poverty in 2019 in Austria (down 12.9 percentage points),
Finland (down 13.5 percentage points) and Ireland (down 16.0 percentage points; 2018 data). The impact of
social transfers was much less substantial in Italy (2018 data), Portugal, Greece and Romania, as at-risk-of-
poverty rates were reduced by less than 6.0 percentage points.

At-risk-of-poverty rate anchored at a specific point in time

Given the at-risk-of-poverty rate is calculated on the basis of poverty thresholds that change from one year to
the next (reflecting changes to the overall level of income and its distribution between different socio-economic
groups), care needs to be taken when interpreting developments for the risk of poverty over time, especially
during periods of rapid economic change.

A more reliable measure for monitoring developments over time is the at-risk-of-poverty rate anchored at a
specific point in time and adjusted for inflation. On this basis, the at-risk-of-poverty rate anchored in 2008 for
the EU-27 (in its composition of the respective year) was 2.3 percentage points higher in 2019 than in 2008.
The situation varied between EU Member States, with the impact of the global financial and economic crisis
and subsequent sovereign debt crises apparent in several southern EU Member States as the rate was driven
up: Spain (up 5.0 percentage points), Italy (up 5.1 percentage points; 2008-2018), Cyprus (up 6.0 percentage
points) and Greece (up 21.8 points); there was also an increase in Luxembourg (up 5.5 points) — see Map 1 .
The largest decreases in the at-risk-of-poverty rate anchored in 2008 were observed in the Baltic Member States
and in Poland, Bulgaria and Romania, all of which recorded rates in 2019 that were more than 10.0 points lower
than they had been in 2008; this was also the case in Turkey (2008-2018).

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 14

Map 1: Change in the at-risk-of-poverty rate anchored in 2008, 2008-2019 (percentage points
difference, 2019 minus 2008) Source: Eurostat (ilc_li22b)

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 15

The persistent at-risk-of-poverty rate

The persistent at-risk-of-poverty rate shows the proportion of people with a level of income below the poverty
threshold in both the reference year as well as at least two out of the three preceding years. Thus, this indicator
captures those members of society who are persistently vulnerable to the risk of poverty over several years. The
rationale behind this indicator is based on the fact that the chances for a household to recover or be lifted out
of poverty falls the longer it remains below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold.

In 2018, there was a higher persistent risk of poverty among the population living in single adult households. On
average, more than one fifth (21.4 %) of the EU-27 population living in single-adult households with dependent
children was at persistent risk of poverty, while 18.8 % of the population living in single-person households
(without dependent children) faced the risk of persistent poverty (see Table 3 ). Both of these figures were
considerably higher than the risk of persistent poverty recorded for people living in households with two or more
adults (irrespective of whether or not they had dependent children). The lowest persistent at-risk-of poverty
rate — 6.5 % in the EU-27 — was recorded for households composed of two or more adults without dependent
children.

Table 3: Persistent at-risk-of-poverty rate, analysed by household type, 2019 (%) Source: Euro-
stat (ilc_li23)

Among the EU Member States, 47.0 % of all people living in single-adult households with dependent children
in Malta faced a persistent risk of poverty in 2019 as did more than one third of such households in Slovakia,
Bulgaria and Luxembourg. Among people who were living on their own in single-person households, persis-

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 16

tent at-risk-of-poverty rates were particularly high in the Baltic Member States: 48.0 % in Estonia, 46.3 % in
Lithuania and 44.7 % in Latvia.

Persistent at-risk-of-poverty rates were generally lower for people living in households composed of two or
more adults without dependent children than they were for people living in households composed of two or
more adults with dependent children. This pattern was repeated in 2019 across a majority of the EU Member
States: Latvia, Denmark, Cyprus, Croatia, Germany and Slovenia were the only exceptions.

In households composed of two or more adults with dependent children, the persistent at-risk-of-poverty rate
in 2019 was highest in Romania at 18.4 %, while the next highest rates (within the range of 16.8-17.5 %) were
recorded in Bulgaria, Spain and Italy (2018 data).

Source data for tables and graphs

• Poverty and social exclusion: maps, tables and figures

Data sources
The data used in this article are primarily derived from EU-SILC. EU-SILC data are compiled annually and
are the main source of statistics that measure income and living conditions in Europe; it is also the main source
of information used to link different aspects relating to the quality of life of households and individuals.

The reference population for the information presented in this article is all private households and their cur-
rent members residing in the territory of an EU Member State (or non-member country) at the time of data
collection; persons living in collective households and in institutions are generally excluded from the target
population. The data for the EU are population-weighted averages of national data.

Tables in this article use the following notation:

Value initalics data value is forecasted, provisional or estimated and is there-

fore likely to change;
: not available, confidential or unreliable value.

Context
In recent years, Eurostat has invested considerable resources in developing a set of indicators that are designed
to reach Beyond GDP , thereby providing a more inclusive analysis of economic, social and environmental
aspects of progress. Indeed, economic indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP) were not designed to
be comprehensive measures of prosperity and well-being. With this in mind, a range of indicators have been
developed which help to provide information to address global challenges for the 21st century — poverty , the
quality of life , health , climate change and resource depletion .

Inclusive growth is one of three priorities of the Europe 2020 strategy (the other two concern smart and
sustainable growth). The headline target for social inclusion in the EU is to lift at least 20 million people out
of poverty or social exclusion by 2020. Progress towards this target is monitored through Eurostat’s indicator
for those at risk of poverty or social exclusion — AROPE.

See also
• All articles fromLiving conditions in Europe

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 17

 • Being young in Europe today
• Living conditions in Europe - income distribution and income inequality

Main tables
• Income and living conditions (t_ilc)

Database
• Income and living conditions (ilc)

Dedicated section
• Income, social inclusion and living conditions

Publications
• Analytic report on subjective well-being
• Living conditions in Europe — 2018 edition

Methodology
• Income and living conditions (ESMS metadata file — ilc_esms)
• Income and living conditions — information on data
• Income and living conditions — methodology

Legislation
• Detailed list of legislative information on EU-SILC provisions for survey design, survey characteristics,
data transmission and ad-hoc modules

• Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 — the central piece of legislation for EU-SILC

• Summaries of EU Legislation: EU statistics on income and living conditions

External links
• European Commission — Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion — Employment
and Social Developments in Europe 2019
• European Commission — Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion — Indicators’
Sub-Group of the Social Protection Committee

Living conditions in Europe - poverty and social exclusion 18