INFORMA test

Data extracted: July 2024.

Planned article update: September 2026.

Highlights

By global standards, most people living in the European Union (EU) are prosperous: they have relatively high income/wealth and subjective well-being, while there are established social protection systems that provide a safety net for many less fortunate people.

Indeed, the European social model is based on offering protection to people who are most in need. Regardless of national differences, the implementation of social protection in EU countries is designed to provide people with some protection against, among other issues, the costs of bringing up a family or housing, the risks related to unemployment, poor health, poverty or social exclusion, and the consequences of old age. Nevertheless, 94.6 million people, or more than 1 in 5 (21.4%) of the EU’s population, were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023; see Infographic 1.

The COVID-19 crisis underlined systemic inequalities in living conditions both between and within individual EU countries. While some people were fortunate enough to continue working full-time from home (and in some cases were even able to save more of their income than usual), many people in precarious employment or working in sectors/businesses impacted by successive lockdowns faced reduced earnings, short-time work (furlough schemes / temporary lay-offs / technical unemployment) and unemployment. Indeed, the asymmetric impact of the crisis meant that it exacerbated existing inequalities in many cases: some groups in society were much more harshly affected than others, for example, elderly people, young people, parents of young children (particularly single-parents), low-wage earners, women, migrants, or people with disabilities. While the impact of the pandemic abated in 2022 and 2023, concern shifted to the cost-of-living crisis, which led several EU governments to introduce a range of support schemes, such as energy price caps, rebates for fuel prices or additional support for low income households / pensioners (who typically spend a disproportionate amount of their income on essential purchases such as housing, food and energy).

This article forms part of Eurostat’s twin publications on Rural Europe and Urban Europe.

Infographic 1: How many people in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion?
(million, 2023)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_pees01n)

People at risk of poverty or social exclusion

In keeping with the other criteria that compose the at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate, there was something of a geographic split when analysing the share of people aged 0–64 years living in households with very low work intensity. In 2023, most of the western and southern EU countries and all of the Nordic EU countries recorded their highest shares for people living in cities, whereas in most of the eastern and all of the Baltic EU countries people living in rural areas tended to record the highest shares.

In Austria, Germany and Belgium, the share of people living in households with very low work intensity was more than 6.0 percentage points higher among people living in cities than it was for people living in rural areas.
By contrast, the share of people living in households with very low work intensity was considerably higher among people living in rural areas (than among people living in cities) in Lithuania (7.3 points), Bulgaria (7.0 points) and Romania (6.6 points).

Figure 10 shows that income levels varied considerably between EU countries. These wide variations exist even though the information presented is shown in purchasing power standards (PPS). PPS is a unit that takes account of price-level differences between countries; comparisons based on PPS usually result in narrower ranges between countries than when values are compared in euro.

The median equivalised net income of people living in cities was generally higher than that recorded for people living in towns and suburbs or rural areas. This pattern was exhibited in 19 out of 27 EU countries in 2023; the only exceptions were:

Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands and Slovenia, where people living in towns and suburbs had the highest median levels of net income;
Germany and Austria, where people living in rural areas had the highest median levels of net income.

Looking in more detail at income levels for people living in cities, the highest median equivalised net income in 2023 was recorded in Luxembourg (40 797 PPS). This was followed at some considerable distance by Austria (27 013 PPS) and the Netherlands (26 177 PPS, while Germany, Ireland and Sweden each recorded levels that were within the range of 23 015–23 773 PPS. By contrast, people living in the cities of Slovakia, Hungary, Greece and Bulgaria had the lowest levels of net income – less than 13 400 PPS.

In 2023, the median equivalised net income of people living in rural areas of the EU was 88.2% of the average recorded for people living in cities. The median equivalised net income of people living in rural areas of Romania (8 579 PPS) was less than 60% of that recorded for people living in cities (14nbsp;497 PPS). Bulgaria was the only other EU country where the median equivalised net income of people living in rural areas was less than 75% of the average recorded for people living in cities.

Figure 10: Income indicators, by degree of urbanisation, 2023
(%)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_di17) and (ilc_di23)

Across the EU, median equivalised net income for males was €20 867 in 2023; this was slightly more than €1 000 higher than the median value for females (€19 858). These equivalised income figures present an average that covers the whole population (including people who aren’t in work). As such, they are quite different from the information often presented in relation to gender pay gap statistics; the latter are based on unadjusted figures, measuring the difference between average gross hourly earnings of men and women (covering only people who are in work).

Figure 11 shows that – when analysed by degree of urbanisation – the EU gender gap for median equivalised net income was often situated within a relatively narrow range during the last decade. In 2023, the difference between male and female incomes was 5.4% of male incomes among people living in towns and suburbs, while smaller differences were recorded for people living in cities (4.8%) and in rural areas (4.1%).

Figure 11: Gender gap for median equivalised net income, by degree of urbanisation, EU, 2013–23
(difference between male and female incomes as % of male incomes)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_di17)

In all EU countries, median equivalised net incomes for males were higher than those for females. This was also observed for nearly all EU countries in each of the 3 degrees of urbanisation. There was only 1 exception where median equivalised net income was higher for females than for males; this was the case for people living in the cities of Slovakia. The largest gender gaps were recorded among people living in the cities of Hungary and the 3 Baltic countries, and in the towns and suburbs of Lativa and Lithuania.

Note: a positive value indicates that male incomes were higher than female incomes.

Figure 12: Gender gap for median equivalised net income, by degree of urbanisation, 2023
(difference between male and female incomes as % of male incomes)
Source: Eurostat (ilc_di17)

The unequal distribution of income can, among other consequences, lead to economic inequalities that manifest themselves in various forms of poverty or social exclusion. In 2023, almost 1 in 5 (19.3%) of the EU’s population had a level of income that was at least 150% of the median income. By this measure, the distribution of income was less equitable across those living in cities, where almost 1 in 4 (24.0%) of the population had a level of income that was at least 150% of the median income, with lower shares recorded among those living in towns and suburbs (17.7%) and, most notably, rural areas (14.2%).

Figure 10 above (use the dropdown list to select the indicator) shows that income inequalities (as measured by the share of people having an income at least 150% of the median) were generally concentrated in cities. In 2023, this was particularly the case in Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Luxembourg where more than a third of the population living in cities had an income that was at least 150% of the median. By contrast, there were only 5 EU countries that were an exception, where the highest share was not observed for cities

in Latvia, Ireland and Malta, a higher share of the people living in towns and suburbs had a level of income that was at least 150% of the median income
in Belgium, the joint highest shares were recorded for people living in towns and suburbs and in rural areas
in the Netherlands, the highest share was recorded for people living in rural areas.

Source data for tables and graphs

Income and living conditions: tables and figures

Context

On 4 March 2021, the European Commission set out its ambition for a stronger social EU to focus on education, skills and jobs, aiming for a fair, inclusive and resilient socioeconomic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, while fighting discrimination, tackling poverty and alleviating the risk of exclusion for vulnerable groups. The European pillar of social rights action plan (COM(2021) 102 final) outlines a set of specific actions and headline targets for employment, skills and social protection in the EU. It includes a benchmark target for reducing the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by at least 15 million people between 2019 and 2030 (of which, at least 5 million should be children).

Explore further

Database

Thematic section

Publications

Statistical publications

Eurostat regional yearbook – 2024 edition
Urban Europe – statistics on cities, towns and suburbs – 2016 edition

Methodological publications

Applying the Degree of Urbanisation – A methodological manual to define cities, towns and rural areas for international comparisons – 2021 edition

Methodology

External links

Urban Agenda for the EU

European Commission – Directorate-General Agriculture and rural development

Rural development

European Commission – Directorate-General Regional and Urban Policy

European Committee of the Regions

European Committee of the Regions – political priorities 2020–25

European networks

United Nations

Legislation

Statistical legislation

Income and living conditions – legislation
Regulation (EU) 2017/2391 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2017 amending Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 as regards the territorial typologies (Tercet)
Consolidated and amended version of Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS)

Policy legislation

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 522/2014 of 11 March 2014 supplementing Regulation (EU) No 1301/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to the detailed rules concerning the principles for the selection and management of innovative actions in the area of sustainable urban development to be supported by the European Regional Development Fund
Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
Regulation (EU) No 1310/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down certain transitional provisions on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)

Visualisation

Regions and cities illustrated (RCI) – Degree of urbanisation