Greece finds itself in the unenviable position of having the fourth highest percentage of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the European Union in 2024, according to Eurostat.
The alarming data indicates that close to one in three Greek children under 18 years old (27.9%) face the risk of poverty and social exclusion, with only Bulgaria (35.1%), Spain (33.8%), and Romania (33.8%) worse off.
According to Eurostat, in 2024, 19.5 million children in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This figure represents 24.2% of children under the age of 18, a decrease of just 0.6 percentage points compared to 2023, when the rate was 24.8%, compared to 20.3% for individuals aged 18 and over.
Slovenia (11.8%), Cyprus (14.8%), and Czechia (15.4%) recorded the lowest rates of children at risk. The largest increases were observed in Finland (+3.5 pp), Croatia (+2.0 pp), and both Bulgaria and Belgium (+1.2 pp each).
In 2024, in the EU, 11.0% of children under the age of 18 whose parents had a high level of education were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, compared to 61.2% of children whose parents had a low level of education.
According to the EU definition, the risk of poverty or social exclusion, abbreviated as AROPE, refers to the sum of individuals who are either at risk of poverty, severely materially and socially deprived, or living in a household with very low work intensity.
Individuals are counted only once, even if they fall into more than one of the above categories. The AROPE rate is the share of the total population that is at risk of poverty or social exclusion.
