Bulgaria is no longer the European Union country with the highest share of people at risk of poverty, according to the latest estimates released by Eurostat.
Data for 2025 show that Bulgaria reduced its poverty risk rate from 21.7% to 21.2% of the population, lowering the number of people considered at risk from 1.401 million to 1.369 million.
While the improvement remains modest, it moves Bulgaria down to third place in the EU’s poverty risk rankings after previously holding the highest rate in the bloc.
Lithuania now records the highest level of population at risk of poverty at 22.6%, followed by Latvia with 22%. Bulgaria follows closely behind with 21.2%.
Across the European Union as a whole, the share of people at risk of poverty increased slightly in 2025, reaching 16.3% of the population. In absolute terms, more than 72.4 million people across the bloc were considered vulnerable to poverty last year — an increase of approximately 316,000 people compared with the previous year.
