Resource context (publisher and authors)
“Key figures on European living conditions – 2024 edition” is a statistical publication produced by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union. It compiles a selection of key indicators on living conditions across the EU, its member states, and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries. The Publisher is listed as Eurostat and the Authors are not named.
Income and living standards across Europe
A central indicator in the publication is median annual disposable income, expressed in purchasing power standards (PPS) per inhabitant. For 2023, the EU median annual disposable income is reported as 19,955 PPS. The report highlights substantial differences between countries: western and Nordic EU countries show the highest disposable-income levels, while southern, eastern, and Baltic countries have markedly lower levels, illustrating persistent economic disparities within Europe.
Poverty risk and social exclusion
The publication reports that 21.4% of the EU population—about 94.6 million people—were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2023. This represents a slight decrease compared with 2022, indicating limited progress while leaving a large share of the population exposed to socioeconomic vulnerability. Severe material and social deprivation is reported at 6.8% in 2023 (up marginally from 6.7% in 2022). The deprivation rate is higher among women (7.2%) than men (6.5%).
Housing-related strain and energy poverty signals
Several indicators in the publication connect directly to housing security and affordability. In 2023, 45.4% of households in the EU reported at least some difficulty making ends meet, pointing to widespread economic strain that can affect the ability to pay housing and energy bills. The report also finds that 10.6% of people in the EU could not afford to keep their home adequately warm in 2023, rising from 9.3% in 2022, a trend relevant to discussions on energy efficiency, heating costs, and the social dimension of housing transitions.
Wellbeing outcomes and unequal patterns
Life satisfaction in the EU is reported at an average of 7.3 out of 10 in 2023, unchanged from 2018. Alongside this stability in the EU average, the publication underlines large disparities across many indicators—between EU countries, between urban and rural areas, and between citizens and non-citizens—suggesting that aggregate figures can mask uneven living conditions and differentiated exposure to housing and cost-of-living pressures.
Scope, data basis, and intended use
The report provides a broad statistical overview spanning income distribution, poverty risk, material deprivation, economic strain, household composition, work intensity, childcare, health, disability, and life satisfaction. The figures largely reflect conditions in 2022 and 2023, in the context of high inflation and the impacts associated with the war in Ukraine. The publication draws primarily on the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) surveys and presents results with visualisations and concise explanations designed to support monitoring of EU social policies and targets, including those linked to poverty reduction and social rights.