Poland is the European Union nation with the greatest decrease in poverty in recent years, according to the bloc’s statistics agency.

Greece, meanwhile, has seen the greatest increase in poverty among EU member states, according to the Eurostat agency.

The "at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate" in Poland decreased by 8.6 percentage points from 2008 to 2016, Eurostat said.

In Latvia, the rate fell by 5.7 percentage points and in Romania it dropped by 5.4 points.

The greatest risk of poverty was recorded in Bulgaria, while the Czech Republic showed the lowest risk, the agency added.

Last year, 117.5 million EU citizens, or 23.4 percent of the bloc’s total population, were at risk of poverty or social exclusion, according to Eurostat data.

Tuesday marks International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. (gs/pk)

Source: PAP, ec.europa.eu