EU countries by poverty rate at the national poverty line, 2021

Bulgaria had the highest poverty rate at the national poverty line of 26 EU countries in 2021, at 22.9%. Czechia had the lowest, at 10.2%. The median was 15.2%. Source: the World Bank.

Highest22.9Bulgaria

Lowest10.2Czechia

Median15.226 EU countries

All EU countries, 2021

%. Source: World Bank, Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines, % of population (SI.POV.NAHC). Retrieved 2026-10-12.

Full ranking

Rank	EU countries	2021 (%)	Change on 2020
1	Bulgaria	22.9	+0.8 pts
2	Estonia	22.8	+2.2 pts
3	Latvia	22.5	-0.9 pts
4	Romania	21.2	-1.3 pts
5	Lithuania	20.9	+0.9 pts
6	Spain	20.4	-1.3 pts
7	Italy	20.1	0 pts
8	Greece	18.8	-0.8 pts
9	Luxembourg	17.3	n/a
10	Malta	16.7	-0.2 pts
11	Portugal	16.4	-2 pts
12	Sweden	16	+0.3 pts
13	France	15.6	n/a
14	Austria	14.8	+0.1 pts
14	Germany	14.8	-1.2 pts
16	Netherlands	14.5	+0.1 pts
17	Ireland	14	+1.1 pts
18	Cyprus	13.9	+0.1 pts
19	Slovakia	13.7	+1.4 pts
20	Belgium	13.2	+0.5 pts
21	Finland	12.7	+1.9 pts
22	Denmark	12.4	+0.1 pts
23	Hungary	12.1	-0.5 pts
23	Poland	12.1	+0.3 pts
23	Slovenia	12.1	+0.4 pts
26	Czechia	10.2	+1.6 pts

Other periods

2021
2020

About this ranking

Share of the population living below the national poverty line that each country sets. World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform, compiled from official government sources or computed by World Bank staff with the national line.

Each country sets its own line, so rates cannot be compared between countries; compare years within one country, and check for method changes, which can move the rate by many points. There is no World value. For the United States see poverty_rate, and for the EU at_risk_of_poverty_rate.

Every value in the ranking comes from the same publisher and the same period, so the EU countries are compared on one definition. 1 EU countries with data in other periods have no value for 2021 and are left out rather than filled from another source. Equal values share a rank.

How to cite

World Bank, World Development Indicators. Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines, % of population (SI.POV.NAHC). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.NAHC. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Citation styles

The publisher is the author. Invokely is named only as the place the figures were read, where a style asks for it.

APA 7

World Bank. (2026). Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines, % of population (SI.POV.NAHC) (EU countries by poverty rate at the national poverty line, 2021) [Data set]. Retrieved October 12, 2026, from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.NAHC

MLA 9

Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines, % of population (SI.POV.NAHC), EU countries by poverty rate at the national poverty line, 2021. World Bank, 8 Oct. 2026, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.NAHC. Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/poverty-rate-national-line/eu-countries. Accessed 12 Oct. 2026.

Chicago (author-date)

World Bank. 2026. Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines, % of population (SI.POV.NAHC). EU countries by poverty rate at the national poverty line, 2021. Dataset. Accessed October 12, 2026. https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.NAHC. Also distributed by Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/poverty-rate-national-line/eu-countries.

Harvard

World Bank (2026) Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines, % of population (SI.POV.NAHC), EU countries by poverty rate at the national poverty line, 2021 [Dataset]. Available at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.NAHC, via Invokely: https://invokely.ai/rankings/poverty-rate-national-line/eu-countries (Accessed: 12 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{world_eu_countries_by_poverty_2021,
  author = {{World Bank}},
  title = {{Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines, \% of population (SI.POV.NAHC): EU countries by poverty rate at the national poverty line, 2021}},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Data set},
  url = {https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.NAHC},
  urldate = {2026-10-12},
  note = {Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/poverty-rate-national-line/eu-countries. Publisher attribution: World Bank, World Development Indicators. Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines, \% of population (SI.POV.NAHC). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.NAHC. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.},
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
AU  - World Bank
TI  - Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines, % of population (SI.POV.NAHC): EU countries by poverty rate at the national poverty line, 2021
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/08
PB  - World Bank
DB  - Invokely
UR  - https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.NAHC
L2  - https://invokely.ai/rankings/poverty-rate-national-line/eu-countries
Y2  - 2026/10/12
N1  - Accessed via Invokely, https://invokely.ai/rankings/poverty-rate-national-line/eu-countries.
N1  - Publisher attribution: World Bank, World Development Indicators. Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines, % of population (SI.POV.NAHC). https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SI.POV.NAHC. Retrieved 2026-10-12. Licensed under CC BY 4.0.
ER  -

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Rank EU countries by poverty rate at the national poverty line using official data, and cite the source.

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Questions

Which EU country has the highest poverty rate at the national poverty line?

Bulgaria, with 22.9% in 2021, according to the World Bank.

Which EU country has the lowest poverty rate at the national poverty line?

Czechia, with 10.2% in 2021.

Where does this ranking come from?

Every value comes from one source and one period, so the places are comparable: World Bank, Poverty headcount ratio at national poverty lines, % of population (SI.POV.NAHC). Retrieved 2026-10-12. 1 EU countries have no value for 2021 and are not ranked.

Poverty rate at the national poverty line: other rankings

Countries