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In the European Pillar of Social Rights action plan of March 2021, the Commission set a new headline target: reducing the number of people living in poverty by at least 15 million (including at least 5 million children) by 2030. The related national targets were presented in June 2022.
Due to the multifaceted nature of poverty, the European Union uses a multidimensional indicator – the 'at risk of poverty or social exclusion' rate – based on three different dimensions: monetary poverty, severe material deprivation, or 'very low work intensity'.
It is defined in the EU as the percentage of the population with an equivalised disposable income below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, which is set in each country at 60 % of the national median equivalised disposable income expressed in national currency.
Poverty is a notoriously difficult concept to define and measure. Depending on the definition chosen – using an absolute or a relative poverty line; focusing on income; consumption; setting a higher or a lower poverty line – the same individual can be considered poor or not poor.
This chapter explains what anti-poverty policies have been developed in Europe. It describes minimum incomes, access to the labour market, and access to social services. The chapter also describes the first, second, and third European anti-poverty programmes from 1975 to 1994.
In 2023, 94.6 million people in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion; this was equivalent to 21.4 % of the EU population. The risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU was, in 2023, higher for women than for men (22.3 % compared with 20.3 %).
Poverty status (ARPTXXi), At-risk-of-poverty threshold (ARPTXX), Equivalised disposable Income (EQ_INC) SAS program files. SAS programming routines developed for the computation of the EU-SILC monetary poverty datasets along with the different dimensions, are listed below.
