3. In 2015, the UK had one of the lowest rates of persistent poverty of all EU member states

In 2015, the estimated proportion of individuals experiencing persistent poverty in the UK was 7.3%. As may be expected, this is lower than the UK poverty rate which was 16.7% in 2015. The UK’s persistent poverty rate was the fifth lowest of all EU member states, whilst the poverty rate was the 13th highest – the same as Germany and near the EU average of 17.3%.

Figure 1: Percentage of individuals persistently at risk of poverty, EU28 and other select countries, 2015 Source: Office for National Statistics, Eurostat Download this image Figure 1: Percentage of individuals persistently at risk of poverty, EU28 and other select countries, 2015 .png (198.1 kB)

Figure 2: Percentage of individuals at risk of poverty, EU28 and other select countries, 2015 Source: Office for National Statistics, Eurostat Download this image Figure 2: Percentage of individuals at risk of poverty, EU28 and other select countries, 2015 .png (195.7 kB)

Figures 1 and 2 show that countries in Southern and Eastern Europe generally have higher poverty rates and persistent poverty rates than countries in Northern Europe. With some exceptions (namely the Czech Republic), poverty appears across Europe in clusters. Countries generally have similar experiences with both poverty and persistent poverty as their neighbours.

Romania had the highest proportion of individuals experiencing poverty and persistent poverty of all EU countries at 25.4% and 19.3% respectively. Bulgaria, which neighbours Romania, had the second highest persistent poverty rate at 16.2%. Iceland, which is not a member of the EU, had the lowest rates of poverty and persistent poverty, 9.6% and 2.9% respectively, lower than all countries in the EU. The EU member state with the lowest rate of persistent poverty in 2015 was Denmark at 4.3%.

Figure 3: Difference between poverty and persistent poverty rates, 2015, EU28 and other select countries Source: Office for National Statistics, Eurostat Notes: Data are shown for the 28 countries in the European Union (EU28) and for Iceland, Macedonia and Norway, which are not members of the EU. Download this image Figure 3: Difference between poverty and persistent poverty rates, 2015, EU28 and other select countries .png (11.1 kB) .xls (20.0 kB)

The UK has a similar persistent poverty rate to Sweden (7.0%), Hungary (7.2%), Cyprus (7.3%), the Netherlands (7.3%) and Slovakia (7.3%), but has a comparatively higher overall poverty rate (Figure 3). Additionally, the UK’s persistent poverty rate is less than the rates for France and Italy.

The gap between the UK’s poverty and persistent poverty rates (9.4 percentage points) is the second largest of all EU member states, second to Latvia (12.4 percentage points). Where a country’s poverty and persistent poverty rates are close together, this suggests a large proportion of the population who were in poverty in 2015 had been experiencing similar levels of poverty for a number of years.

Comparisons of the poverty and persistent poverty rates suggest in the UK over 4 in 10 (43.7%) people in poverty had been experiencing some form of longer-term poverty. This is the second smallest ratio of poor to persistently poor individuals of all EU member states and is below the EU average of over 6 in 10 (63%) – typically, individuals in the UK experience shorter terms of poverty than other EU countries.

Figure 4: Poverty rates against persistent poverty rates, 2015, EU28 and other select countries Source: Office for National Statistics, Eurostat Notes: Data are shown for the 28 countries in the European Union (EU28) and for Iceland, Macedonia and Norway, which are not members of the EU. Download this image Figure 4: Poverty rates against persistent poverty rates, 2015, EU28 and other select countries .PNG (14.2 kB) .xls (26.6 kB)

Across the EU, there is a roughly linear relationship between poverty and persistent poverty rates – a trend that has been noted since the first collection of longitudinal European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) in 2008. On average, the overall poverty rate was 1.7 times higher than the persistent poverty rate in 2015.

The population of EU countries does not appear to have a relationship with the poverty and persistent poverty rates, with countries of all sizes experiencing low and high rates of poverty equally.

Figure 5: Poverty and persistent poverty rates, 2008 to 2015, UK and EU average Source: Office for National Statistics, Eurostat Download this chart Figure 5: Poverty and persistent poverty rates, 2008 to 2015, UK and EU average Image .csv .xls

Since 2011, the UK’s poverty and persistent poverty rates have been below the EU average (Figure 5). In 2015, the persistent poverty rate increased for the first time since 2012. Long-term trends show that since 2008, the gap between the UK and EU average persistent poverty rates has been widening – in 2008 the gap between both rates was 0.2 percentage points, whereas in 2015 the gap was 3.6 percentage points.