6% of youth in severe material & social deprivation

In 2024, the severe material and social deprivation rate among young people (aged 15-29 years) in the EU was 5.8%. The rate was slightly lower compared with the total population (6.4%).

The highest shares of young people who faced severe material and social deprivation were recorded in Bulgaria (17.2%), Romania (14.7%) and Greece (14.4%). By contrast, the rate was below 3.0% in 10 EU countries: Croatia, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Luxembourg, Czechia, Latvia, Cyprus, Ireland and Portugal.

Source dataset: ilc_mdsd11

At risk of poverty and social exclusion rate higher among youth

In 2024, the overall at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) rate for young people aged 15-29 years was 24.1%, which was 3.1 percentage points (pp) higher than the rate for the total population (21.0%).

When examining the specific AROPE components, the at risk of poverty rate among youth was 3.0 pp higher compared with the general population (19.2% among young people aged 15-29 years compared with 16.2% for the total population). However, the proportion of individuals living in households with very low work intensity was only 0.3 pp higher among young people (8.2% compared with 7.9% for the total population).
 

Source datasets: ilc_peps01n, ilc_li02, ilc_lvhl11n, ilc_mdsd11