(ANSA) - Brussels, April 14 - Italy is the Euroepan country with the highest number of people living in "serious material privation", the institutional definition of poverty, Eurostat said Thursday.

The poverty rate in Europe dropped from 9% in 2014 to 8.2% in 2015, whereas in Italy it edged down from 11.6% to 11.5% - still 6.982 billion people.

The number is much lower in Germany (3.974 million), where the rate is just 5%, and in France (2.824 billion), with a rate of 4.5%.

