Severe material and social deprivation rate of youth: 6%

In 2022, the severe material and social deprivation rate among young people (aged 15-29 years) in the EU was 6.1%. The rate was slightly higher (6.7%) among the total population (all people living in private households).

The highest shares of young people who faced severe material and social deprivation in 2022 were recorded in Romania (25.4%), Bulgaria (18.6%) and Greece (14.9%). In contrast, the rate was below 3% in 12 EU members: Slovenia, Austria, Luxembourg, Croatia, Poland, Czechia, the Netherlands, Estonia, Malta, Cyprus, Finland and Sweden.

Source dataset: ilc_mdsd11

At risk of poverty and social exclusion rate higher among youth

In 2022, the overall at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) rate for young people aged 15-29 years was 24.5%, which was 2.9 percentage points (pp) higher than the rate for the total population (21.6%).

When examining the specific AROPE components, the at risk of poverty rate among youth was 2.8 pp higher compared with the general population (19.3% among young people aged 15-29 years compared with 16.5% for the total population). Similarly, the proportion of individuals living in households with very low work intensity was 0.4 pp higher among young people (8.7% compared with 8.3% for the total population).

In contrast, the share of people experiencing severe material and social deprivation was slightly lower among young people compared with the total population.

Source datasets: ilc_peps01n, ilc_li02, ilc_lvhl11n, ilc_mdsd11