Poverty

The National Statistical Institute reports that in 2023, the poverty line for the entire country stood at 637.92 BGN per person per month within households. At this threshold, 1.3 million individuals fell below the poverty line, constituting 20.6% of the nation's populace.

Lower-income households carry a far heavier burden than others due to continued price hikes, not only because of the mismatch in the growth of incomes and especially of those who live from wage labor in the last 4.5years, but also because the expenses they mainly make, on food and rent, are those in which the largest appreciations are recorded.

Economic inequalities are increasing due to the inflation crisis, which has been ongoing since the second half of 2021 and peaked in 2022 with the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to an Alpha Bank report.

The poorest 10% of households would have had to increase their spending by more than 16% to keep food and energy consumption constant between 2019 and February 2024. The same figure for the richest 10% is under 6%.

Some 27.8 percent of the Turkish population resided in rented apartments in 2023, reflecting a slight increase from the previous year, the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown.

The Municipality of Athens is set to create an Energy Poverty Office, prioritizing the protection of vulnerable citizens, as was proposed and approved during Wednesday's council meeting.

Low-income households spend a very high proportion of their income on college and university education compared to higher-income households, according to a study by the Center for Research and Training in Public Health, Health Policy and Primary Healthcare released on Monday and based on the latest data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority.

A recent UNICEF report assessing 40 OECD and EU nations sheds light on Bulgaria's persistent child poverty, showcasing a reduction of 8.3% between 2014 and 2021. Despite this progress, Bulgaria maintains one of the highest child poverty rates in the EU, with a staggering 26% of Bulgarian children facing the risk of poverty.

Startling statistics unveiled by the National Statistical Institute reveal that a staggering 17% of children between the ages of 0 and 5 in Bulgaria grapple with poverty. This concerning figure emerges alongside an infant mortality rate that remains nearly double the European Union average, standing at 3.6%.

The U.K.'s inflation-fuelled cost-of-living crisis is set to "cut lives short" and "significantly widen the wealth-health gap", according to a study published by open access journal BMJ Public Health.