October 16 (BTA) - Bulgaria has the largest share of
the population at risk of poverty in the EU, 32.8 per cent or
over 2.32 million people, according to new Eurostat figures made
 public Wednesday. Also, it has the biggest decrease in this
share, by 121 percentage points from 44.8 per cent in 2008.

Romania ranks immediately after Bulgaria with the share of the
population at risk of poverty (32.5 per cent), followed by
Greece (31.8 per cent).

EU-wide, 109.2 million people, or 21.7 per cent of the
population were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2018.
This means that they were in at least one of the following three
 conditions: at risk of poverty after social transfers (which is
 income poverty), severely materially deprived or living in
households with very low work intensity. After three consecutive
 increases between 2009 and 2012 to reach almost 25 per cent,
the proportion of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion
 in the EU has continuously decreased to 21.7 per cent last
year, 2 percentage points below its 2008 reference point and 0.7
 percentage points below the 2017 level, Eurostat says.

The biggest increase in the share of people at risk of poverty
or social exclusion last year (compared to 2008) is seen in
Luxembourg (6.4 percentage points), Greece (3.7 percentage
points) and Estonia (2.6 percentage points).
   
These figures are published by Eurostat on the International Day
 for the Eradication of Poverty. RY/LN


//