Some 22.7% of individuals aged under 18 in Austria are at risk of poverty or social exclusion, the latest Eurostat statistics reveal.

The study, conducted among EU member states as well as Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania and Turkey in 2023, shows the highest rates in Romania (39.0%), Spain (34.5%) and Bulgaria (33.9%).

At the other end of the spectrum, the lowest rates were recorded in Slovenia (10.7%), Finland (13.8%), and the Netherlands (14.3%).

The EU average in 2023 was 24.8%, placing Austria squarely in the middle.

Hungary recorded the largest rise in such children compared to last year, by 6.3%, followed by Spain (+2.3%), and both Luxembourg and Malta (+2.1% each).

Eurostat defines being at risk of poverty or social exclusion as “the sum of persons who are either at risk of poverty, severely materially and socially deprived, or living in a household with very low work intensity.”

In 2023, the study notes, the risk was higher for those under 18 than those over 18 (20.6%). It also shows that children whose parents attained a higher education level were less likely to be at risk.