In 2024, 93 out of the 243 EU regions (with available data) at level 2 of the nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTS 2) recorded at risk of poverty or social exclusion rates higher than the 21% EU average; Â 4 regions had the same rate, while 146 had lower rates.Â
In 5 regions, these rates were more than double the EU average. The highest rate was in Guyane (France), where 59.5% of the population was at risk of poverty or social exclusion, followed by Italian regions of Calabria (48.8%) and Campania (43.5%), and the Spanish autonomous cities of Melilla (44.5%) and Ceuta (42.2%).Â
In 2024, there were 25 NUTS 2 regions where at least 33% of the population was at risk of poverty or social exclusion (darkest shade of blue in the map). These regions were concentrated in Greece (5 regions), Bulgaria, Spain, Italy (4 regions each), as well as Romania and the outermost regions of France (3 regions each). This group also included 2 predominantly urban regions in western EU countries – the capital region of Belgium (Région de Bruxelles-Capitale / Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest) and Bremen in Germany.Â
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Source datasets: ilc_peps11n and ilc_peps01n
At the other end of the distribution, there were 26 regions where less than 12.5% of the population was at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2024 (light yellow shade). This group included:Â
7 regions in northern and central Italy, including Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano/Bozen (6.6%), which had the lowest at risk of poverty or social exclusion rate in the EU;
6 out of the 8 regions of Czechia, including Jihozápad (8.8%), which had the third lowest rate in the EU;Â
3 regions in Vlaams Gewest in northern Belgium;Â
3 regions in Austria;Â
2 regions in Poland, including the capital region Warszawski stołeczny;
the capital regions of Croatia, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia, with the last of these, Bratislavský kraj, having the second lowest rate in the EU (8.6%);
the north-western Hungarian region of Közép-Dunántúl.
This article marks the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, which promotes awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution worldwide.
Would you like to know more about living conditions statistics at the regional level?Â
You can read more about living conditions statistics in the Eurostat regional yearbook – 2025 edition, also available as a set of Statistics Explained articles and maps only on the Statistical Atlas.