Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, has published poverty data for the block on the occasion that 17 October is the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Although the figures for Hungary have been public for six months now, this release gives us the chance to compare the poverty status of Hungary to that in other EU member states.
The good news is that poverty has been continuously decreasing in the EU, and is now back at pre-crisis levels. In 2016, 117.5 million people, or 23.4% of the population, in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This means that they were in at least one of the following three conditions: at-risk-of-poverty after social transfers (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%, the proportion of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU has since continuously decreased to 23.4% last year, only 0.1 percentage points above its 2009 low-point.
The ratio in Hungary is higher than the EU average at 26.3%, but there is a descending trend. The biggest improvement in this respect was observed in Poland and Romania in Central and Eastern Europe, yet Romania’s ratio is the second-worst (38.8%) in the entire block (after Bulgaria’s 40.4%).
Interestingly enough, the lowest value was recorded in the Czech Republic. The northern-southern divide is reflected also in poverty readings. Denmark (16.7%) and Finland (16.6%) are ranked high, whereas Greece (35.6%), Italy (28.7%) and Spain (27.9%) are at the bottom of the rankings.
The indicator gauges three conditions. Hungary fared relatively well as regards the ratio of households with very low work intensity (8.2% in 2016 vs. 12% before the crisis), whereas the ratio of severely materially deprived people remains extremely high at 16.2% of the population, which was the fourth-highest in the EU.
In the EU in 2016, 7.5% of the population were severely materially deprived, meaning that they had living conditions constrained by a lack of resources such as not being able to afford to pay their bills, keep their home adequately warm, or take a one week holiday away from home. This proportion of persons severely materially deprived in the EU has decreased compared with both 2015 (8.1%) and 2008 (8.5%).
Compared with 2008, the proportion of persons severely materially deprived has increased in ten Member States for which data are available, and decreased in fifteen.
The share of those severely materially deprived in 2016 varied significantly among Member States, ranging from more than 20% of the total population in Bulgaria (31.9%), Romania (23.8%) and Greece (22.4%), to less than 4% in Sweden (0.8%), Luxembourg (1.6%), Finland (2.2%), Denmark and the Netherlands (both 2.6%), Austria (3.0%) and Germany (3.7%).
Severely materially deprived persons have living conditions constrained by a lack of resources and experience at least 4 out of the 9 following deprivation items: cannot afford 1) to pay rent/mortgage or utility bills on time, 2) to keep home adequately warm, 3) to face unexpected expenses, 4) to eat meat, fish or a protein equivalent every second day, 5) a one week holiday away from home, 6) a car, 7) a washing machine, 8) a colour TV, or 9) a telephone (including mobile phone).
Charting is displayed using TradingView's technology, a platform, where you can build advanced charts,
spot upcoming trends in the stock screener, and find inspiration in multiple trading ideas
