Child Poverty: Spain Ranks First in the EU
A report by the Spanish Anti-Poverty and Social Exclusion Network (EAPN-ES), based on Eurostat data, indicates that the poverty rate for minors in Spain will be 28.4% in 2025. This figure makes Spain the country with the most severe child poverty problem among the 27 EU member states, with a rate nearly 9 percentage points higher than the EU average. Although this figure represents a slight decrease of 0.8 percentage points from the previous year, the significant gap persists, highlighting a deeply rooted issue.
Overall Risk: Over 12 Million People Facing Hardship
From a broader perspective, Spain’s poverty issue extends beyond children. The report shows that approximately 12.6 million people (25.7% of the total population) are at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE indicator). This rate is also higher than the EU average of 20.9%. In a cross-EU comparison, Spain ranks fifth-worst on this indicator, surpassed only by Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, and Lithuania, reflecting the systemic pressures it faces in social security and economic fairness.
Group Disparities: Significant Impact of Gender and Employment Status
The risk of poverty is not evenly distributed across different social groups. The data reveals a clear gender gap, with women facing a higher poverty risk (21.9%) than men (19.8%). Employment status is an even more critical factor: the poverty rate for the employed is 10.9%, while for the unemployed, it skyrockets to 66.3%—a staggering difference. This indicates that having a stable job is the most crucial defense against the risk of poverty, while unemployment is nearly synonymous with falling into poverty.
Policy Response: EU Strategy and Civil Society Appeals
To address the growing poverty crisis, the European Commission plans to officially launch its first European anti-poverty strategy on May 6. The EAPN-ES has welcomed this move, emphasizing that the strategy must be sufficiently ambitious and robust. The organization calls for future policies to be fundamentally based on human rights and complemented by specific supporting measures in housing security and tax fairness to tackle the problem at its roots.
