8.2% of EU workers are at risk of poverty

Key Figures on European living conditions 2025 edition, published in September, provides a comprehensive overview of how Europeans live today. This publication covers topics from income distribution and inequality to households, work intensity and childcare, and health, disability and discrimination. Today, we highlight data on people who work but are at risk of poverty. 

Risk of poverty does not only affect people living in households with low work intensity or people without employment. In 2024, 8.2% of people aged 18 or over who declared to be at work (employed or self-employed) in the EU were at risk of poverty. This share was notably lower for women (7.3%) than for men (9.0%). 

Among the EU countries, the highest rate of people who were in-work and at risk of poverty was 13.4% in Luxembourg. By contrast, the lowest rate was 2.8% in Finland. 

In 22 EU countries, the in-work at-risk-of-poverty rate was higher for men than for women, with the largest gender difference in Romania (8.1 percentage points). In Germany, the rates were the same for men and women, while in Czechia, Latvia, Cyprus and Luxembourg the rates were higher for women than for men.

Source dataset: ilc_iw01

The Key Figures on European living conditions publication offers essential data on the EU and allows you to compare developments across EU and EFTA countries. For a more detailed view of the EU’s performance in other fields, explore other Key figures publications.