According to the latest data from Eurostat, more than a third of Greeks experienced poverty and/or social exclusion.
The 2015 research results were announced yesterday and suggest people in Greece are at increased risk of experiencing poverty or social exclusion, from 29.1% in 2008 to 35.7 in 2015, which translates to approximately 3.8 million people.
In the EU, those at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2015 returned to the same levels as in 2008, or 23.7 % (118.8 million people).
The highest levels of poverty and social exclusion in the EU were in Bulgaria (41.3 %) and Romania (37.3 %). The lowest levels were in the Czech Republic (14 %, Sweden (16 %), Netherlands and Finland (16.8 %) and Denmark and France (17.7 %).
The above percentage includes those living below the national poverty line (income less than 60 % of the national average), those that are severely materially deprived and cannot afford essentials and those living in households with very low work intensity, where no one has a steady job.
In Greece, 21.4% are living below the poverty line, 22.2 % are severely materially deprived and 16.8 % live in households of low work intensity. The same percentages in the EU on average are 17.3 %, 8.1 % and 10.5 %.
