17.4% of EU households have difficulty making ends meet

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 focus on economic strain, highlighting the ability of households to make ends meet. 

In 2024, 17.4% of all households in the EU experienced difficulty or great difficulty to make ends meet. At the other end of the range, 26.0% of all households were able to make ends meet very easily or easily. The share of households making ends meet fairly easily or with some difficulty was collectively 56.6%.

Aggregating the 6 categories of the ability to make ends meet into 2 groups – with and without difficulties – 41.6% of households in the EU had at least some difficulty making ends meet in 2024.

Source dataset: ilc_mdes09 

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.