Romania ranks first in the European Union in terms of relative poverty, with a rate of 25.4%, according to officials from the National Statistics Institute INS, which cited Eurostat data for 2013.

According to the document, the relative poverty rate in Romania increased by 3 percentage points compared to the previous year, reports local Agerpres. In this study, relative poverty represents the rate of individuals whose household equivalised disposable income is below 60% of national median equivalised income.

Spain ranks second with a rate of 22.2%, and Bulgaria comes third with 21.8%. On the other hand, the Czech Republic has the lowest relative poverty rate (9.7%).

According to INS, 8.5 million Romanians are at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

Eurostat data shows that 40.2% of Romania’s population was exposed to poverty and social exclusion in 2014. Based on this figure, Romania ranked first in the EU. Bulgaria came second with a rate of 40.1%, followed by Greece with 36%. The Czech Republic registered the lowest rate of 14.8%.

However, Romania is among the EU Member States which, between 2008 and 2014, made the biggest progress in reducing the risk of poverty and social exclusion, reducing this risk by four percentage points. Poland was the only EU member state that registered a greater decrease than Romania - 5.8 percentage points.

At the EU level, the percentage of population affected by the risk of poverty and social exclusion increased from 23.8% in 2008 to 24.4% in 2014.

Four in ten Romanians face poverty and social exclusion risk

EY study: Over a third of Romanian elderly face poverty risk

EU money to help Romanians escape poverty by 2020

Norway pays EUR 20 mln to fight poverty in Romania

Government document: One in five Romanians live in poverty, 4.8 mln people make vulnerable group

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com