More than one in three people in Greece are living in poverty or social exclusion and on average one in four in the EU, according to 2015 data, which were released on Monday by Eurostat.

Specifically, in Greece in 2015, 35.7% of the population (3.8 mil. People) was faced with the risk of poverty or social exclusion compared with 28.1% in 2008. In the EU, the numbers for 2008 appeared again in 2015, ie 23.7% (118.8 mil. people).

According to Eurostat, a person is in poverty or social exclusion when it is faced with one or more of the following situations: Is considered poor (ie has an income of less than 60% of the national median income), is living in poverty (ie lacking basic consumer goods or fails to meetminimum financial obligations), or lives with a family facing the risk of unemployment (ie in a family where none of its members have a”normal job”).

Regarding Greece, 21.4% of the population is poor, 22.2% is living in poverty, while 16.8% of the population are living in families facing the risk of unemployment.

The corresponding average rates in the EU are 17.3%, 8.1% and 10.5%.

Bulgaria (41.3%) and Romania (37.3%) are generally in a worse position than Greece, regarding the percentage of the population considered to be in poverty or social exclusion.

On the other hand (with rates below 20%) are the Czech Republic (14%), Sweden (16%), the Netherlands and Finland (16.8%), Denmark and France (17.7%)./IBNA