Spain seventh highest poverty rate in Europe

SPAIN has the seventh highest poverty rate in the European Union, a new report reveals.

With one in four people in Spain at risk of social exclusion, only Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Lithuania, Italy and Latvia have greater levels of poverty among the EU member-states, according to the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN-ES).

The EAPN-ES’s ninth ‘The state of poverty’ report shows there are some 12.2 million people in Spain at risk of poverty or social exclusion, an indicator measured not only in monetary terms, but also in relation to factors including employment levels among household members and the ability to pay for basics like rent and heating.

Taking income alone, more than one in five Spaniards live on less than €1,552 a month in the case of a couple with children or on €739 in one-person households.

Over 27 per cent of the population find it hard or very hard to make it to the end of the month.

The EAPN-ES report, which is based on information from the Spanish National Institute of Statistics and the At Risk of Poverty or Social Exclusion (AROPE) EU barometer for 2008 to 2018, also found the indicators were worse for single-parent families, especially those headed by mothers, for people with a disability and for young people.

What’s more there is something of a north-south divide in Spain, the report indicates. While 44.6 per cent of the population in Extremadura are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, in the Basque Country the level is 32 points lower at 12.1 per cent.

Poverty levels in Spain have fallen over the last four years, EAPN-ES concluded, but the figure remains 2.3 points above that of 2008 before the economic crisis.