According to the Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SURS), the poverty threshold was EUR 981 per month in 2024, which means that it was EUR 78 higher than in the previous year. The poverty risk rate, which previously stood at 13.2 percent, has also risen; it is up 0.5 percentage points compared to the previous year.
Some 276,000 people were living below the poverty line in 2024, which is 12,000 more than in 2023.
The poverty line was 981 euros per month. 13.2 percent of people were at risk of poverty, 7.3 percent at risk of long-term poverty and 14.4 percent at risk of social exclusion – which are higher proportions than a year earlier. On the other hand, two of the three social exclusion indicators decreased.
The number of people at risk of poverty has increased
The at-risk-of-poverty rate stood at 13.2 percent last year, which is up 0.5 percentage points compared to a year earlier. Some 276,000 people were living below the poverty line, which is 12,000 more than in 2023. The poverty line for a household of one person was 981 euros per month, which is 78 euros higher than a year earlier. In absolute terms, this was the largest increase since 2005. If the threshold had remained the same as the previous year, the at-risk-of-poverty rate would also have remained unchanged.
For a family of four (two adults and two children under 14), the threshold was 2,060 euros, and for a household of two with no children, it was 1,472 euros per month.
The higher risk of poverty also puts more people at risk of social exclusion. The social exclusion risk rate reached 14.4 percent; an increase of 0.7 percentage points compared to 2023. 302,000 people were thus socially excluded, which is 15,000 more than a year earlier.
The Statistical Office measures social exclusion using three indicators: the risk of poverty, the degree of severe material and social deprivation, and very low labour intensity. The latter two indicators fell last year, as did the number of people experiencing all three forms of social exclusion at the same time. These most vulnerable individuals accounted for 0.4 percent, or around 8,000 people – 2,000 fewer than the previous year.
Income inequality slightly higher than before
Income was somewhat more unequally distributed among households, with the Gini coefficient increasing by 0.4 percentage points and the quintile ratio by 0.1 percentage points.
The number of people at risk of long-term poverty has increased. In 2023, the long-term at-risk-of-poverty rate reached 7.3 percent, an increase of 0.5 percentage points from the previous year. Some 135,000 people lived below the at-risk-of-poverty line in at least three of the last four years, 12,000 more than in the previous year.
The data are based on incomes received in 2023, and the latest figures are available in the SiStat database (available in Slovenian here: https://pxweb.stat.si/SiStatData/pxweb/sl/Data/-/H153S.px)
A. H.
