Hungary has the 6th highest rate of severely deprived people in the EU

In 2019, the rate of people living in severe deprivation decreased significantly throughout the European Union, and the Hungarian situation also reflects this trend.

According to the data of Eurostat, in 2019, 5.6% of the population in the EU were severely materially deprived, which reflects a slight improvement since the 2012 peak of 10.2%. This rate was 8.4% in Hungary, which shows a rather significant decrease compared to the 10.1% registered in 2018. Among the EU Member States, Hungary took 6th place with this rate, Hvg wrote.

Considering our region, the percentage of severely deprived people fell from 4.7 to 3.9 in Poland, and it changed from 2.8 to 2.7 in the Czech Republic. Slovakia represents an exception since its rate rose from 7.0% to 7.9%, and according to the 2018 data, Austria’s rate was 2.8%.

In the EU, the highest number of severely deprived people live in Bulgaria (19.9%), Greece (15.9%) and Romania (12.6%), Lithuania and Cyprus also have worse rates than Hungary. The lowest rates of deep poverty were measured in Luxembourg (1.3% in 2018), Sweden (1.6% in 2018), the Netherlands and Finland (both 2.4%).

People are considered severely materially deprived when they cannot afford at least four of the following items, which others regard to be desirable or necessary to lead an adequate life:

• paying their bills on time
• keeping their home adequately warm
• facing unexpected expenses
• buying meat (or the vegetarian equivalent) regularly
• taking a one week holiday
• a TV
• a washing machine
• a car
• a telephone

Source: hvg.hu