At-risk-of-poverty rate and at-risk-of-poverty threshold

In 2019, on average, 16.5 % of the EU-27 population was at risk of poverty after social transfers (see Figure 10 below). In Romania (23.8 %), Latvia (22.9 %), Bulgaria (22.6 %), Estonia (21.7 %), Spain (20.7 %), Lithuania (20.6 %) and Italy (20.3 %), one-fifth or more of the total population was at risk of poverty. At the other end of the spectrum stood Czechia, where around one-tenth of the population was at risk of poverty (10.1 %).
The threshold set at 60 % of the national median equivalised income provides information on relative levels of income, below which a person is considered to have a low income compared to the whole population. In Member States with high living standards (e.g. Austria, Denmark, Finland or Luxembourg), having an income below the threshold does not necessarily mean having a very low standard of living in absolute terms. In order to draw cross-country comparisons more accurately, poverty thresholds are usually expressed in terms of purchasing power standards (PPS), which have been adjusted for national differences in price levels. In theory, one PPS can buy the same amount of goods and services in each Member State.
In 2019, the national at-risk-of-poverty income thresholds (based on 60 % of national median equivalised income) for a single person ranged from PPS 17 366 in Luxemburg to PPS 5 022 in Bulgaria and PPS 4 403 in Romania.