One in three Greeks live in conditions of poverty social exclusion, compared to an average of one in four citizens in European Union countries, according to data for 2016 that the EU's statistics service Eurostat made public on Monday.

Specifically, 35.5 percent of the Greek population (3.8 million people) were living in social exclusion last year compared to 28.1 percent in 2008.

The EU average, by contrast, was 23.4 percent (or 117.5 million people) living in conditions of social exclusion, just under the 23.7 percent rate in 2008.

According to Eurostat, a person is living in poverty or social exclusion when they earn less than 60 percent of the average national income, when they are unable to procure basic consumer goods or to fulfil basic financial obligations.

The situation is worse in Bulgaria and Romania where 40.4 percent and 38.8 percent of people are regarded as living in conditions of poverty or social exclusion.

At the other end of the scale are the Czech Republic, Finland and Denmark with 13.3 percent, 16.6 percent and 16.7 percent respectively.