A whopping 43% of Romanians are at risk of poverty and cannot afford a proper meal. It is the second-highest percentage in the EU after Bulgaria (44.6%). Four other countries register percentages of over 25% of the population that cannot afford a proper meal, Slovakia, Greece, Hungary, and Lithuania.
At the European Union level, in 2022, 8.3% of the population could not afford a meal containing meat, fish, or a vegetarian equivalent every two days, one percentage point more than in 2021 (7.3%).
Moreover, considering people at risk of poverty, in 2022 the share at EU level was 19.7%, 2.2 pp higher than in 2021 (17.5%). The lowest share of people unable to afford a proper meal was recorded in Ireland (5%), Luxembourg (5.1%), and Cyprus (5.6%).
The capacity to afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish, or vegetarian equivalent every second day is among the items observed at household level by Eurostat to calculate the severe material and social deprivation rate.
