EU Regional Disparities in the Risk of Poverty and Social Exclusion in 2024

Eurostat recently published data on the share of the population living at risk of poverty or social exclusion. In 2024, 93 out of the 243 EU regions (at NUTS 2 level – Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) recorded risk levels above the EU average of 21%. Four regions reported values close to the EU average, while 146 regions registered lower levels.

Risk levels more than twice as high as the EU average were observed in five regions. The highest rate was recorded in Guyane (France), where 59.5% of the population was at risk of poverty or social exclusion. It was followed by the Italian regions of Calabria (48.8%) and Campania (43.5%), and the Spanish autonomous cities of Melilla (44.5%) and Ceuta (42.2%).).

In 2024, there were 25 regions (at NUTS 2 level) where at least 33% of the population was at risk of poverty or social exclusion (shown in the darkest shade of blue on the map). These regions were concentrated in Greece (5 regions), Bulgaria, Spain, and Italy (4 regions each), as well as in Romania and the outermost regions of France (3 regions each).
This group also includes two predominantly urban regions in Western Europe – the Brussels-Capital Region (Région de Bruxelles-Capitale / Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest) and Bremen in Germany.

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, shown in light yellow on the map. This group includes:

7 regions in Northern and Central Italy, including Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano/Bozen (6.6%), which has the lowest rate in the EU;
6 out of 8 regions in the Czech Republic, including Jihozápad (8.8%), which ranks third lowest in the EU;
3 regions in the Flemish Region (Vlaams Gewest) in northern Belgium;
3 regions in Austria;
2 regions in Poland, including the capital region Warszawski stołeczny;
the capital regions of Croatia, Romania, Slovenia, and Slovakia, the last of which – Bratislavský kraj – recorded the second-lowest rate in the EU (8.6%);
the northwestern Hungarian region Közép-Dunántúl.