A percentage of 8.2% of workers aged 18 and above in the EU were at risk of poverty in 2024, despite being actively employed, the latest data on the living conditions of workers published by Eurostat revealed.
According to the data, the percentage of workers at risk of poverty is lower for women (7.3%) compared to men (9.0%). However, the gender disparities vary significantly across countries.
In 22 out of the 27 EU member states, the percentage is higher for men, with the largest difference observed in Romania, where the gap is 8.1 percentage points in favour of men. In countries like Germany, the percentages are the same for men and women, while in the Czech Republic, Latvia, Cyprus, and Luxembourg, the percentage is higher for women.
Specifically for Cyprus, the overall percentage of workers at risk of poverty is 6.9%, which is below the EU average (8.2%). However, Cyprus is one of the few countries where the percentage is higher for women (7.4%) compared to men (6.4%), with a difference of 1 percentage point.
The highest percentage of workers at risk of poverty is recorded in Luxembourg (13.4%), while the lowest percentage is observed in Finland (2.8%). These figures highlight that poverty does not only affect the unemployed or households with low work intensity, but also a significant percentage of employed individuals.
CNA