An increase was recorded compared to last year, according to Eurostat data
5.6% of people in Cyprus at risk of poverty in 2022 could not afford to eat regular meals, compared to the EU average (19.7%), an increase compared to last year, according to data released by Eurostat, the EU's statistical agency.
An increase was also recorded at EU level in the proportion of people at risk of poverty who at the same time could not afford regular meals (i.e. being able to eat every other day a meal containing meat, fish or an equivalent vegetarian product), as it increased from 17.5% in 2021 to 19.7% in 2022, i.e. by 2.2 percentage points (pp). And in Cyprus this percentage increased from 2.4% in 2021 to 5.6% in 2022.
In terms of the total EU population (ie beyond those at risk of poverty), 8.3% could not afford regular meals. This percentage increased by one percentage point compared to 2021 (7.3%).
In Cyprus, the percentage of people who could not afford to consume normally meals in relation to the total population in 2022 stood at 1.5%, having recorded an increase compared to 2021 (0.4%).
Among Member States, the highest percentages of people at risk of poverty who cannot afford a regular meal were recorded in Bulgaria (44.6%), Romania (43.0%) and Slovakia (40.5%).
< p class="text-paragraph">The lowest rates were recorded in Ireland (5.0%), Luxembourg (5.1%) and Cyprus (5.6%).
Affordability to buy a meal of meat, chicken, fish or a vegetarian equivalent every other day is one of the items recorded at household level to calculate the rate of severe material social deprivation in the EU.
