Romania has the most poor people in Europe, with one in five Romanians so poor that they can’t afford to eat meat every day or go on vacation, the latest Eurostat data show.
As a result, 19.8% of Romanians faced severe material and social deprivation in 2023, the highest percentage among EU countries, above Bulgaria (18%0, Greece (13.5%), Hungary (10.4%), and Spain (9.0%).
Nine European regions recorded deprivation rates between 20% and 29.9%, mostly in Southern and Eastern Europe. These included two regions in Romania, three in Bulgaria, and one each in Hungary, Italy and Greece.
At the opposite, Slovenia (2%), Cyprus (2.4%), Sweden, Luxembourg, and Estonia (all at 2.5%) reported the lowest share of people experiencing severe material and social deprivation in 2023.
Some 6.8% of the EU population experienced severe material and social deprivation last year, up slightly from 6.7% in 2022.
