The FINANCIAL – In 2017, non-European Union citizens were at a higher risk of poverty than foreign European Union (EU) citizens or national citizens. Across the whole of the EU, 41.2 % of non-EU citizens were assessed to be at risk of poverty compared with 21.9 % of foreign EU citizens and 15.3 % for national citizens.
The at-risk-of-poverty rate is the share of people with an equivalised disposable income (after social transfers) below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, which is set at 60 % of the national median equivalised disposable income after social transfers.
Among the EU Member States (according to the available data), the at-risk-of-poverty rate recorded for non-EU citizens was the highest (55.5 %) in Belgium, followed by Spain (51.5 %), Croatia (47.9 %), Sweden (47.7 %) and France (45.3 %).
For foreign EU citizens, the at-risk-of-poverty rate was the highest in Hungary (39.8 %), Spain (35.2 %) and Greece (32.1 %).
The highest at-risk-of-poverty rates for national citizens were recorded in Romania (21.4 %), Greece (19.6 %), Spain (18.8 %), Bulgaria, Lithuania (both 18.5 %) and Italy (18.1 %).
Czechia recorded the lowest at-risk-of-poverty rate for national citizens (7.7 %). Estonia reported the lowest at-risk-of-poverty rate for foreign EU citizens (3.0 %), while Hungary had the lowest at-risk-of-poverty rate for non-EU citizens (12.0 %).
